This research was a rapid review presenting and examining evidence relating to climate change and digital connectivity such as:

• whether investment in digital connectivity can support reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, if so, how
• examples of relevant policies and impacts
• the best options for assessing emissions from digital connectivity and services in Scotland
• key evidence gaps in these areas.

Summary of findings

The research team has found mixed evidence of the decarbonisation impact of digital connectivity and whether it contributes to adaptation and a just transition. The main findings, based on the literature reviewed are:

• The Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector is a source of GHG emissions.
• ICT technology and digitalisation reduce GHG emissions in other industries.  
• The GHG emissions associated with e-waste are of growing concern internationally.
• The indirect impact of ICT technologies can either lead to a net reduction in carbon emissions or to a net increase. Human behaviour plays a part in whether the indirect impacts on emissions are positive or negative.
• We are unable to say whether digital connectivity supports climate adaptation. With regard to a just transition, digital connectivity and ICT can have either a positive or a negative effect.

For more detailed information about the findings, please read the report.

If you require the report in an alternative format, such as a Word document, please contact info@climatexchange.org.uk or 0131 651 4783.

Scotland recognises the significance of a place-based transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places importance on the role of local authorities in achieving this target. Therefore, it is a priority for the Scottish Government to facilitate area-wide and locally-led efforts as part of a just transition to net zero.

Across the 32 local authorities in Scotland, 17 have set net zero targets specific to tackling territorial GHG emissions generated in their geographical area (from agriculture, buildings, industry, land use and land use change and forestry, transport and waste). This is in direct comparison to 26 local authorities that have set net zero targets to reduce their organisational GHG emissions.

This research examines local authority climate-relevant strategies and policies within them; the potential of these policies to reduce emissions if they were scaled to the national level; and the barriers that local authorities face in implementing these policies. The study developed a register of 69 climate change strategies across all 32 local authorities.

Main findings

• Local authorities are modelling exemplary action on climate change across many fronts through the benefit of deep-rooted relationships with local stakeholders and unparalleled knowledge of their area. However, the level of detail and methodological evidence presented in climate change strategies are often sparse, with many strategies failing to model the scale of impact on GHG emissions.
• The study identified two policy areas with the potential for major impact on territorial greenhouse gas emissions:
  • Nature-based solutions: a combination of individual policies to green derelict land, restore damaged peatland and afforestation.
  • Net zero transport: several climate policy initiatives such as active transport, decarbonisation of public transport and low-emission vehicle licences for taxis.

• The impact on Scotland’s national territorial emissions, should all local authorities adopt the leading policies, from nature-based solutions (5,497 ktCO₂e) and net zero transport (1,527 ktCO₂e) amounts to an estimated total potential reduction of 7,024 ktCO₂e by 2045. This is an indicative figure, illustrating the scale of change that could be possible.
• The Scottish Government have set a compelling ambition to closely support local authorities to develop locally owned and led climate action strategies to tackle territorial emissions. However, local authorities are limited by a lack of clarity on their roles and responsibilities, and by a lack of best practice guidance or frameworks across all the territorial emission categories. They face barriers including lack of data maturity, capacity, specialist skills, accountability and funding.

For further details, please read the report.

If you require the report in an alternative format, such as a Word document, please contact info@climatexchange.org.uk or 0131 651 4783.

December 2023

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/4512

Executive summary

Background

Scotland recognises the significance of a place-based transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). As part of setting a target of net zero by 2045, the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places importance on the role of local authorities in achieving this target. Therefore, it is a priority for the Scottish Government to facilitate area-wide and locally-led efforts as part of a just transition to net zero.

Across the 32 local authorities in Scotland, 17 have set net zero targets specific to tackling territorial GHG emissions generated in their geographical area (from agriculture, buildings, industry, land use and land use change and forestry, transport and waste). This is in direct comparison to 26 local authorities that have set net zero targets to reduce their organisational GHG emissions.

This research examines local authority climate-relevant strategies and policies within them; the potential of these policies to reduce emissions if they were scaled to the national level; and the barriers that local authorities face in implementing these policies.

Main findings

We developed a register of 69 climate change strategies across all 32 local authorities. We found that local authorities are modelling exemplary action on climate change across many fronts through the benefit of deep-rooted relationships with local stakeholders and unparalleled knowledge of their area.

However, the level of detail and methodological evidence presented in climate change strategies are often sparse, with many strategies failing to model the scale of impact on GHG emissions.

From the 69 climate-related strategies, we selected six leading strategies for quantification and identified 13 policies within these that could be appropriate for scaling up. We undertook an initial estimate of the potential territorial emission reduction if they were replicated across all Scottish local authorities. We also assessed the likelihood for change at this scale, considering local authorities’ sphere of control, capacity and timescales, alongside the magnitude of potential change. Through this process we identified two policy areas with the potential for major impact on territorial greenhouse gas emissions:

1. Nature-based solutions: a combination of individual policies to green derelict land, restore damaged peatland and afforestation.
2. Net zero transport: several climate policy initiatives such as active transport, decarbonisation of public transport and low-emission vehicle licences for taxis.

The impact on Scotland’s national territorial emissions, should all local authorities adopt the leading policies, from nature-based solutions (5,497 ktCO₂e) and net zero transport (1,527 ktCO₂e) amounts to an estimated total potential reduction of 7,024 ktCO₂e by 2045. This is an indicative figure, illustrating the scale of change that could be possible.

We found that the Scottish Government have set a compelling ambition to closely support local authorities to develop locally owned and led climate action strategies to tackle territorial emissions.

However, we also found that local authorities are limited by a lack of clarity on their roles and responsibilities, and by a lack of best practice guidance or frameworks across all the territorial emission categories. They face barriers including lack of data maturity, capacity, specialist skills, accountability and funding.

Recommendations

Local authorities could be further supported to develop their climate policies. We recommend the establishment of best practice guidance on the development of climate policies. This would help improve clarity and consistency across local authorities.

Further research could expand on the capacity and capability requirements to deliver local authority climate policies between now and 2045, including methods by which the resourcing needs could be met. Further investigation could help quantify the funding available for tackling each GHG inventory, where further funding might best be directed and methods for administrating funding to ensure that national ambitions can be met.

Glossary and abbreviations

Introduction

Context

The recent parliamentary inquiry into the role of local government in delivering net zero stressed that it will be impossible for Scotland to reach net zero without local leadership spearheading area-wide decarbonisation efforts (Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, 2023). The inquiry recognised that achieving net zero cannot be dictated. It requires a collective effort between local government, which holds the local knowledge and fruitful partnerships across the public and private sectors, and national government which have the strategic capabilities and resources to support and coordinate local efforts.

The Scottish Government is continuing the drive toward empowering, building capacity, and providing the necessary foundations for local government to build their net zero programmes. The parliamentary inquiry also established that, while councils have at times been a model for net zero leadership, this needs to be rapidly scaled across all local authorities and all emission sectors in each local authority. The inquiry report noted that the Scottish Government must facilitate this scaling by providing local authorities with a comprehensive roadmap for net zero and “far more certainty than they have at present about the roles they are to play” (Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, 2023).

The Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements Order placed responsibilities on all public bodies, including local authorities, to report on scope 1 and 2 (and some scope 3) organisational emissions (Climate Change Order, 2015). As a result, all 32 local authorities have developed organisational emission inventories and in 2022 the Accounts Commission reported that 26 local authorities had developed organisational net zero targets (Audit Scotland, 2022). However, local authorities have some influence on certain emissions reduction beyond their organisational boundaries. These emissions produced within a local authority’s geographical area of responsibility are referred to as ‘territorial emissions’. Only 17 local authorities have developed territorial net zero targets and even fewer have developed policies for reducing territorial emissions. If this situation persists, it will present a major barrier to the success of Scotland’s national Climate Change Plan, which is heavily reliant on place-based and locally-led action (Scottish Government, 2020).

In their recent progress update to parliament, the Climate Change Committee noted that “momentum on a local level is increasing, but local action is uncoordinated” (Climate Change Committee, 2022, p. 53). There are pockets of exemplary action but also a lack of knowledge sharing across local authorities. This has led to policies being rolled out with different timescales, best practice not being disseminated and opportunities being missed to drive coordinated action across all local authorities. In November 2023 the Scottish Government launched a new Scottish Climate Intelligence Service to support local authorities to build capacity and capability for the development of area-wide programmes of emissions reduction for the benefit of their communities. This service will enable local authorities to deliver their own area-wide territorial net zero targets and to contribute to Scotland’s national commitment to net zero by 2045 (Improvement Service, 2023).

This research addresses some of the identified challenges by analysing the climate policies local authorities have developed to directly tackle territorial GHG emissions, and mapping their potential impact on territorial GHG emissions.

Project aims and research questions

The first aim of this project was to identify key GHG emission reduction policies developed by Scottish local authorities. We developed a comprehensive register of local authority climate-related strategies and associated policies and described the current action being taken by each local authority across all emission categories.

The second aim was to compile and undertake an initial estimate of the policies’ GHG emission reduction potential at both the local authority and national level. This aim was broken down into three sub-questions. Firstly, to identify what the key policies are that have significant GHG emission reduction potential. Secondly, to estimate their emissions reduction potential within their respective local authorities. Thirdly, to estimate what the emission reduction potential would be, should they be applied across all Scottish local authorities. This type of analysis has previously been conducted by the Edinburgh Climate Commission and Place-based Climate Action Network, although this was only in relation to policy scenarios at the local level (Williamson, et al., 2020).

The third aim was to engage with local authorities through a series of semi-structured interviews to understand how the most significant policies could be implemented across Scotland, including the role of Scottish Government and other public bodies in enabling this.

Overall, this project highlights area-based policy options for Scottish Government to consider for national deployment, whether as a statutory instrument, as in the case of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), or via other delivery approaches such as frameworks or guidance.

Defining the greenhouse gas emission inventory

The UK greenhouse gas inventory (GHGI) is published annually by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and sets out the latest estimates in territorial GHG emissions for all 374 local authorities across the United Kingdom, including the 32 local authorities across Scotland. We have charted the latest DESNZ territorial GHGI publication data for Scotland (DESNZ, 2023) in Figure 1 below. This shows the total territorial GHG emissions split into the inventory categories (agriculture, buildings, industry, LULUCF, transport and waste) between 2005 and 2021. The dataset employs several different methodologies to calculate the spatially disaggregated emissions for each inventory category.

Table 1 provides a description of each of the GHGI categories. These are important for drawing boundaries around polices, determining which inventory a specific policy will impact.

It is possible for policies to transcend multiple emission inventories. For example, a policy that seeks to develop a green network to increase the level of active transport^[1] by improving tree canopy coverage and hedgerows would impact a transport and LULUCF inventory. There are activities and emission changes that would impact both inventories in this instance.

Methodology

This section provides a summarised version of the research methodology. A more detailed methodology is available in Appendix 13.1.

A steering group was established to support the delivery of the project, and consisted of representatives from the Scottish Government, ClimateXChange, Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN), and the Turner & Townsend research team. Findings and outcomes were reported to the steering group for comments and to confirm the research direction throughout the project. The project was divided into three tasks.

Evidence review

Task 1 was to compile a comprehensive policy register to understand the current climate action being taken by each local authority. This register provides a useful tool to view and analyse individual climate policies across Scotland. We applied the following process:

• Search: our search began with reviewing information available through the “Wider Influence” tab of local authority climate change submissions to SSN (SSN, 2023b). Where gaps existed, we supplemented these by conducting an online search of local authority websites and other public body sources for the relevant policy documentation.
• Classify: we utilised a rapid evidence assessment (HM Treasury, 2020) to classify each policy based on its high-level data, including years of coverage, policy owner, whether the policy is monitored, and any associated targets.
• Select: we developed screening criteria based on Scottish Government priorities for the current project and used this to recommend six strategies of significance to progress to Task 2.

We presented the key findings to the steering group and our assessment of the selected strategies. We asked the steering group for advice on the selection of the six strategies. This resulted in the addition of geographical criteria to our selection assessment, to ensure the research considered local authorities from rural and island communities.

Quantitative research

For Task 2 we developed a GHG profile for each of the six strategies selected from Task 1. This involved identifying the emission boundary of each policy within the strategies and the quantification of the potential impact on territorial emissions of the respective local authority. We then proceeded to calculate an aggregated figure to estimate the policies’ potential impact if rolled out at the national level. We approached this by:

• Assessment boundary: GHG boundaries were established using GHG Protocol Action Standard (Greenhouse Gas Protocol, 2014) to apportion the relevant sinks and sources to each policy and estimate potential emission impacts. This was used to determine the likelihood and magnitude of change.
• Policy scenario emissions: in the first instance, we used existing activity and emission factor information from the local authority policies to develop policy scenario emissions estimates. In the absence of information, we applied Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidance. We then used the HM Treasury Green Book to approximate changes and associated emissions values to provide national-level policy scenario figures.

The more comprehensive methodology in Appendix 13.1 explains in detail the range of approaches and methodologies applied in the assessment of GHG boundaries, development of the policy scenario emissions estimations and the limitations of this approach. The findings from Task 2 were presented to the steering group with the objective of selecting two of the most likely and impactful areas of policy to be considered for national deployment by local authorities. These were developed into policy briefings for Scottish Government.

Qualitative research

For Task 3 we conducted interviews with representatives from two local authorities to gain their views on wider implementation of the selected policy areas, including the roles of local authorities, Scottish Government and other public bodies. We planned a third interview with one further local authority however, we were not able to agree a time and date for the interview to take place in the timescales of this research.

A topic guide was developed and formed the basis of 45-minute semi-structured interviews on Microsoft Teams. These aimed to collect the comprehensive views on the likelihood of wider adoption of the policies, including practicability, the capacity and capability required to deliver a new policy. We also included other open-ended questions, encouraging participants to expand further on topics they deemed relevant. The data from interviews was collated in a thematic analysis grid and key themes were extracted using an analytical approach guided by participant views.

We combined the data from all sources (the evidence review, quantitative potential emissions modelling, discussions with the steering group, and the qualitative research) to discuss the key challenges and the possible approaches to adopting the climate policies at a national scale. The conclusion is presented in Section 11.

Review of existing evidence

Overview

The aim of this review was to understand the climate strategy and policy landscape across Scottish local authorities. We created a Climate Strategy Register that involved the collation of climate action plans from all 32 local authorities including individual sector strategies such as transport plans, waste plans and local development plans (Appendix 13.3).

This report makes a distinction between a climate strategy and a climate policy in the context of the documents reviewed. Policies feed into sector strategies, which feed into a climate change strategy.

Most local authorities reviewed already have a top-level document we define as a climate change strategy. A climate change strategy refers to several planned actions and policies designed to outline an organisation’s approach to tackling climate-related challenges in their local region. Climate change strategies encompass other nomenclature such as a ‘climate action plan’. A climate change strategy will typically cover ambitions for all GHG emission inventories and may link to separate sector strategies that set out in further detailed policies specific to a singular emission inventory. For example, a climate change strategy might reference a separate transport emission sector strategy.

A climate policy encompasses an individual action or set of actions that deliver ambitions set out by a climate strategy. Policies will typically include setting of targets and key performance indicators to measure and verify the success of the policy’s intended impact. For example, a transport sector strategy might include a policy to increase electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and a policy to implement a low emission zone (LEZ) in a city centre.

We used several sources of information to inform our review of existing evidence. We started with reviewing the “Wider influences” local authority climate change report submissions to SSN (SSN, 2023b). The wider influences section of SSN reports was completed with varying degrees of information but overall, the level of detail was sparse. We supplemented this gap by searching each of the local authority websites for their climate action strategies. We found various types of initiatives at different levels of hierarchy.

We identified 69 strategies relevant to climate change across the 32 local authorities. We developed short summaries of each strategy document, which are set out in Appendix 13.2.

We developed a screening matrix to rank each of the strategies against five criteria outlined in Table 2 and determined the level of maturity by assessing the level of evidence provided in a climate change strategy as yes / no / partial. Each of the strategies was then assigned a relevance score to identify those that closely aligned with the research objectives.

Although some strategies where much more detailed than others in terms of the detail provided against individual policies, all the strategies provided sufficient information for us to understand how they would lead to an impact of the GHG emissions in their area. However, quantified information about the level of impact a strategy had was often high-level, not valued as an impact on territorial GHG emissions, or left as an open ambition.^[2]

Selected local authority strategies

From the existing evidence review, we identified five climate change strategies that scored well across all of the screening categories. These climate change strategies were discussed with the steering group and we identified that all of the selected climate change strategies were across the central belt of the country. We therefore added a sixth strategy from a more rural local authority to ensure that we had a more diverse geographical spread. The six climate strategies matching the criteria were taken forward to the next task of valuating climate policies. The local authorities selected are shown in Figure 3 below.

In the following paragraphs, we present two example climate change strategies as representative of the strategies we reviewed.

Stirling’s Climate and Nature Emergency Plan was the highest-ranking strategy (table 3) we reviewed. This was due to the large array of topics covered, efficient writing style, the explanation of policies and how those could be translated into other local authorities and regions. It provided several emission impact figures for policies and actions to show the effect on the environment and highlighted how these would be resourced in the region. Stirling’s Climate and Nature Emergency Plan was also one of the few climate change strategies to mention their current territorial emissions, which is the key focus of this project. Mention of territorial emissions is usually a strong indicator that a climate change strategy would give thorough information around carbon impacts and implementation. Stirling’s Climate and Nature Emergency Plan estimated a territorial emission reduction of 1/3 between 2005 and 2018 and mapped out their future to show where the local authority wanted to be by 2030. This was one of many examples from Stirling’s Climate and Nature Emergency Plan that set it apart from other climate change strategies and provided a clear understanding of how the local authority wanted to meet their targets for territorial GHG emissions.

The Glasgow Climate Plan (Glasgow City Council, 2022) and Stirling Climate and Nature Emergency Plan (Stirling Council, 2022) were key examples of detailed climate change strategies that could be deployed to support a national transition to net zero. Both strategies gave detailed explanations of the current regional context which was pivotal in explaining why certain policies or actions had a greater impact than others. The strategies also highlighted the importance of developing and investing in climate policymaking to ensure polices they set are appropriate for the regions as well as the communities they serve, whilst aiming to minimise the (negative) impact on residents as much as possible. Another key area both strategies explore is the financial implications of initiatives, indicating whether projects are either already funded, part funded or if they are being financed. This is something the Glasgow Climate Plan provided details on more than any other climate strategy reviewed. Importantly, the strategies outlined the capacity requirements to adequately resource their polices and provided timebound milestones to monitor progress against.

Additional findings

Territorial emissions impact

Of the 69 climate change strategies, 56 either partially valued their emissions impact or failed to value the scale of their impact on GHG emissions at all. A common theme in the absence of territorial GHG emission impact was to apply a bespoke indicator as a measure of success, such as increasing the number of staff working remotely. The majority of climate change plans did not outline the methodologies applied in gathering and quantifying performance measures and targets, so it was often unclear how impacts would be measured.

The key aim of this research was to identify policies that could impact territorial GHG emissions in a major way. The top performing policies against the criteria were scored well because they quantified the anticipated impacts. Emissions were typically quantified as either a tonnage reduction in GHG emissions (tCO₂e) or a percentage reduction against a baseline figure.

Resourcing, financing and timelines

56 of the 69 climate change strategies had fully or partially evidenced timescales for implementation and completion. adopt a unified approach.

The most mature climate change strategies also included considerations around cost, whether funding had been secured, who would be financing it and who would be delivering these policies. For example, Argyle and Bute’s Decarbonisation Plan (Argyll and Bute Council, 2021) outlines sources of funding against each individual policy, whether funding has been secured or still requires budget.

However, policies aimed at achieving the same outcome might do so on different timescales. There was no clear pattern across the climate change strategies on how timescales were decided upon. The exception to this rule was waste targets as they are set nationally, which is a good example of how other policy areas could do the same to territorial emissions and targets

Only 13 of the 69 climate change strategies cited their territorial emissions. Of those, only some set territorial emissions targets. It is not clear why this was the case. It could be due to local authorities not having updated information about their territorial emissions or because they were not confident in how they could enact change in their regions. Climate change strategies that specifically mentioned territorial emissions and set emissions targets for their area had more detailed action lists that went beyond council owned assets. This difference is important as it highlights some local authorities are being proactive in tackling territorial GHG emissions in the local authority area beyond just those of their own organisations.

Summary

The level of detail and consistency of targets and performance metrics showed that there was no clear and consistent approach to developing climate change strategies. This makes comparison and valuation of the climate strategies complex due to the non-uniform nature of presenting impact and the lack of detail around the methodological approaches applied.

The strategies we ranked high on our measures including scalability, replicability, and quantification of impacts, could form the basis of best-practice knowledge sharing, and setting of a national approach (see Appendix 13.1.1 for further detail). Our findings reflect those of recent research carried out by Environmental Standards Scotland (Environmental Standards Scotland, 2023) that recommended Scottish Government introduce a standardised Climate Plan template with mandatory reporting for local authorities. This recommendation would go some way to solving some of the challenges uncovered by this research.

Results of quantitative research

Overview

From the six climate strategies reviewed in detail (Figure 3), 61 distinct climate policies were extracted. The distribution of the policies across the GHG inventory categories is summarised in Figure 4.

Of the 61 policies extracted, most policies (26) targeted building emissions and are outside the scope of this research as they are covered by the exemplar LHEES approach that has already been rolled out nationally across all local authorities. This research intended to identify policies in other GHG inventory categories that have the same potential for rollout across local authorities. With building emissions excluded, the remaining 35 policies have the greatest numbers in transport (13), LULUCF (8) and industry (7) as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Number of policies extracted, by GHG inventory.

Of the 35 policies, we could only collect sufficient information from 13 policies to be able to estimate potential GHG emission impact. These are described alongside example targets and KPIs in Appendix 13.5.

Policy scenario emissions

We analysed the 13 policies to estimate the potential GHG emission impact if they were to be scaled-up to the national level and enacted across all 32 local authorities. The potential GHG emission impacts are high-level indicative estimates using a basic methodological approach and incorporating multiple assumptions, as set out in Appendix 13.1.2 and 13.2. As such, the quantitative findings are indicative, illustrating the scale of potential impact that local authorities may have in tackling climate change. Further analysis would provide more accurate potential GHG impacts of policies.

The findings of this analysis are detailed Table 4. Each row in Table 4 contains a climate policy that originates from either a single local authority or multiple local authorities where policies were similar. Table 4 details that across the 13 policies assessed for their GHG emission impact, there is potential for an estimated 9 MtCO₂e overall change to territorial emissions, or 22% of the current inventory emissions for Scotland.

The full breakdown of the indicative estimated potential impact on each individual local authority’s GHG inventory is presented in Appendix 13.6 and sources for the assumptions and conversion factors are included at Appendix 13.2.

For each of these 13 policies valued, we also show in Table 4 our assessment of the likelihood of each policy to cause a change in emissions if rolled out nationally to all local authorities, taking account sphere of control, capacity and capability, and the timescale over which a policy would be enacted. We also assessed the magnitude of the potential change. Both of these methodologies are outlined in IPCC guidelines (IPCC, 2006) and set out in Appendix 13.4. There will be widely ranging factors and contexts at an individual local authority level which have not been accounted for and that would significantly impact implementation of the policies assessed. In addition, there are critical wider factors such as future national policy development and available budget that were not incorporated into this quantitative analysis.

Findings

Comparing the policies evaluated in Table 4 with the Climate Change Plan sector envelopes (Scottish Government, 2020, p. 253) indicates that both LULUCF and transport policies have the greatest potential to impact territorial GHG emissions, with a high likelihood of the local authority being able to influence their outcome. Table 3 below shows estimated potential GHG emission reductions in these policy areas if implemented in each local authority.

The other policy areas evaluated may also compare favourably with the Climate Change Plan sector envelopes but local authorities have a more limited control on the outcomes. This is the case with policies relating to changes in agricultural practices. In addition, while seven industrial emission-related policies were present amongst the six climate strategies finalised, none sought to value their impact on territorial GHG emissions and provided limited definitive action. Instead, the industrial-emission-related policies opted for a model of getting organisations to sign up to climate change pledges. Policies that were either outside the local authorities’ sphere of influence, or policies that impacted centralised issues, such as waste management, were also not carried forward to interviews with local authorities.

Results of qualitative research

Overview

The results of the quantitative research found that policies in LULUCF and transport showed potential in having significant impacts on local authority territorial GHG emissions. To find out more about how these policies were developed, and the potential pathways to implementing similar policies at the national level, we interviewed local authorities who had leading policies in nature-based solutions and net zero transport.

Findings

The findings below combine evidence from our review of existing data and assessment of the key themes identified through thematic analysis of interviews.

Capacity and capability

It was clear from the interviews that lack of capacity to develop and deliver policies would likely hamper efforts in expanding policies across all local authorities in Scotland. We found that some local authorities had the resource and ability to hire specialist skills into the organisation. Through this they could actively engage with teams across the organisation to ensure policy ambitions were carried out. An example of this given by one respondent:

“It’s imperative to ensure that any planting of new trees considered multiple planning and climate aspects, impacting the species of tree selected, factoring in considerations about the future microclimate and requirements for future flood prevention.”

However, local authorities do not always know what skills they need to deliver on a policy ambition. One respondent explained that many policies require both multi-disciplinary expertise, such as project management, as well as specialist skills, such as ArcGIS^[3], to properly manage the rollout of a policy.

One respondent explained that budget cuts mean that retaining enough resource within the organisation, with access to the right skills and expertise would be a defining factor in the success of climate policies’ targets. Respondents did signal that it was possible to access skills external to the local authority (e.g. through consultancy) but this was often ad hoc. Developing and implementing policies will require multi-year and decadal management to realise their full benefits. Not being able to retain the skills and resource within the local authority places their success at risk.

Data maturity

One of the respondents explained that having good quality data that is continually updated and shared across the organisation is critical to enabling policy development and delivery. The example provided was the data landscape for nature-based solutions policies, which is complex, onerous to compile and requires near-constant updating. For example, in the greening of derelict land, the classification of land as ‘derelict’ ebbs and flows as multiple stakeholders retain interest in the space. The local authority itself (potentially across multiple departments), private individuals, residents and developers may all have a stake in the use of the derelict land. Added to this is the difficulty of collecting accurate data about derelict land, such as carbon evaluation, existence of contaminants, appraisal of natural ecosystems and animal species, and importance to flood prevention. This information is needed to show causal links between greening derelict land and benefits such as heat reduction and carbon sequestration.

Data also enables a local authority to develop robust climate policies by identifying measurable KPIs and to set realistic timescales. Several climate change strategies we reviewed were at early stages of development and specifically referenced the need for additional research to complete the valuation of a policy’s impact. For example, several transport policies referenced other transport strategy documents in-development that sought to improve data maturity for the local area, and enable valuation of impacts and target setting. Timescales for the development of these strategies were not clear.

Collecting adequate data is key to the development, measurement, and success of a climate policy. However, the landscape is complex and demanding and interrelated to capacity and capability in the local authority as discussed above.

Geographical diversity

We found that the overarching aims of climate change strategies across Scotland are the same. However, sometimes these goals are were coupled with specific local issues. Therefore, motivations, KPIs, and targets by which the local authorities measure the performance of climate related policies often differ. This has a knock-on effect on the data and capacity needed to implement policy across diverse communities.

One clear example of this is in homeworking policies. In large island communities that have a widely dispersed rural communities, home working and flexible working has benefited commuters who do not need to travel great distances to reach their work location. One interviewee explained that the policy has helped island communities to overcome other issues such as the lack of public transport provision. Similar homeworking policies also exist in cities with a specific focus on reducing the amount of traffic congestion within the city centre at peak times. Both sets of policies have differing motivations for enacting homeworking polices but the end benefit of reduced air pollution is the same.

Accountability and ownership

We found that climate policies often span multiple departments within an organisation. In some circumstances this led to ambiguity around accountability for the successful delivery of a policy. One respondent explained that for nature-based climate policies, using afforestation as a specific case in point, the responsibility and budget for tree planting might fall with a local authority’s parks department. However, responsibility to actively manage LULUCF from a climate perspective might reside with the sustainability or planning departments. This leads to complexities around who in a local authority needs to be consulted for LULUCF projects and who has ultimate ownership of a policy being successfully enacted. Respondents referenced that it is not uncommon for there to be “a lot of silo working” across departments, so projects that might impact on a climate policy are not always communicated, or vice versa. Respondents also noted that there tends to be an aversion to taking on or sharing climate policy responsibilities because it is a change from how departments have functioned in the past,

“[we] have always done it this way so why would we do it another way”.

Funding

Funding, or the lack thereof, was a common theme across respondents. One respondent noted that there is a lack of funding available to commission external expertise, for example the delivery of a feasibility study. This hampered efforts to collect the information needed to develop robust policies and set realistic targets. It was clear from the strategies reviewed that only a few local authorities sought to quantify the funding requirement to deliver policies.

A strong theme was the lack of funding to attract and retain talent within the local authorities. One example given was that of senior planners, who are required within in a local authority to appropriately manage LULUCF. We were told:

“[Local authorities] advertised at between £39,000 and £48,000 per annum while the private sector advertises similar roles for between £48,000 and £68,00 per annum”.

This leads to expertise being stripped out of the public sector by the private sector after employees have gained a few years’ experience.

There are several avenues of funding available to Scottish local authorities. However, it was the view of respondents that funding was piecemeal, short-term where local authorities needed a longer-term financial commitment and finite, which leads to competition across local authorities. There was a view shared across respondents that funders such as Scottish Government and NatureScot should look to review how funding is administered. A model was suggested in which funders work directly with each individual local authority to identify areas where funding could have the greatest impact at the local level. There was appreciation though that both Scottish Government and NatureScot are themselves suffering from budget and resourcing pressures to many of the local authorities, which hampers efforts to change existing models.

Summary

While very limited, the qualitative evidence indicates that many of the barriers highlighted by the interviews are aligned to those presented in the climate strategy documentary review. Further, the interviews also indicate that these barriers are interlinked and require a holistic approach to be overcome. For example, the lack of funding directly impacts capacity and capability within local authorities to deliver climate policy. This in turn directly impacts the maturity of data across the sector and, again, the local authority’s ability to deliver robust climate policies.

Considering the identified barriers to enacting climate policies, local authorities have nevertheless made significant inroads to developing some best-in-class policies that go above and beyond national ambitions. This is evident in the detail and narrative presented in multiple climate strategies. This shows there is a major interest and commitment by local authorities to tackle their territorial emissions. While policymaking in this area is limited in its scope, scale and consistency, local authorities interviewed demonstrated keenness to increase action.

Combined results

Table 4 combines the quantitative and qualitative research’s estimated potential impacts for the policies should they be implemented nationally. Appendix 13.1.2 describes the methodology used to arrive at the figures included and Appendix 13.2 lists the sources used.

Policy briefing: Nature-based solutions

Background

Biodiversity loss and the destruction of natural habitats is directly linked to climate change. Scottish forests, peatlands and bogs contribute to healthy eco systems. These systems work to remove CO₂ from our atmosphere and in some areas become large carbon sinks. According to the Biodiversity Intactness Indicator, Scotland has seen a 15% decline in its natural capital since 1950 with only 64% of our protected woodlands being in a favourable or recovering condition (Scottish Government, 2022).

Figure 5 shows the total estimated impact on LULUCF territorial GHG emissions by each individual policy, moving the inventory from 2.1 MtCO₂e emission per annum to (negative) -3.4 MtCO₂e through a combination of three polices.

Figure 5: Potential impact on LULUCF territorial GHG emissions across Scotland for a nature-based solutions policy

Greening Derelict Land

The rewilding policy outlined in Glasgow’s Climate Plan (Glasgow City Council, 2022) was one of the most developed we found during the quantitative review. It was used as the foundation to value the potential impact of nation-wide greening of derelict land. NatureScot estimated the total area of urban vacant and derelict land in Scotland in 2017 to be 11,649 hectares (Nature Scot, 2022). Across Scotland, 35% (4,077 ha) of urban vacant and derelict land can be thought of as being uneconomic to develop and/or is viewed as suitable to reclaim for a ‘soft’ end use (i.e. non-built use). The most common new use for sites that were previously urban vacant and derelict land was for residential development, with 50% of sites reclaimed for this purpose (Nature Scot, 2022). Changing land use for derelict land comes with many challenges for local authorities to consider including potential decontamination, private ownership, stakeholder relations, and internal ownership of the policy (see findings from the qualitative research in Section 7).

We have given an interim target of 2025 for greening to reach an estimated net gain in carbon sequestration potential of 2.2 MtCO₂e across Scotland by 2040. This figure is an upper bound estimate and was calculated on the basis of the following significant assumptions:

• 50% of the uneconomic land could be ’greened’ as described above.
• Derelict land is assumed to be neutral grassland that can be converted to coniferous woodland, applying carbon stock estimates (tC / ha) by habitat type and converting to MtCO₂e (Carbon Rewild, 2020).
• Afforested trees would reach their peak potential sequestration between 16 and 25 years of age (Carbon Store, n.d.).

Peatland Restoration

Scotland’s Nature Agency estimates that Scotland has some 1.8 Mha of blanket bog, representing 23% of the total land area (NatureScot, 2023). It is estimated that up to 80% of the total peatland area (1.44 Mha) is damaged. We have drawn on several policies across three local authorities that had detailed peatland restoration ambitions. The policies we reviewed sought to meet the pace of restoration set by Scottish Government of 20,000 ha restored per annum, with a target of 250,000 ha restored by 2030 (Scottish Government, 2020). Maintaining this pace of change to 2045 would mean a potential restoration of 0.55 Mha of peatland by 2045. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that up to 4.6 tCO₂e per hectare could be reduced by restored peatland (IUCN, 2010). This produces an estimated carbon reduction potential of 2.5 MtCO₂e.

A strong caveat to the total potential restoration area is that much of the peatland across Scotland is under private ownership. Local authorities have limited powers outwith their own land ownership and may face significant challenges in convincing some private landowners to restore the peat on their land. In the absence of clear data on the area of peatland under private ownership, or other ownership covenants, for the purposes of estimating a potential GHG emission reduction we have made the broad assumption that these challenges could be overcome. However, if these challenges cannot be overcome it would severely reduce achievable emissions reductions.

Afforestation

We have used Stirling’s Climate & Nature Emergency Plan (Stirling Council, 2022) reforestation policy to plant 360,000 new trees by 2030, and 1 million new trees by 2045 as the basis for the modelled figures. The average kilogram of carbon dioxide sequestered by a mature tree is between 10kg CO₂ and 40kg CO₂ depending on age, species, and growing environment (EcoTree, 2023). For the purposes of estimation, 25kgCO₂ / tree / per annum has been used. Scaling this ambition to the national level, the total estimated removal of 0.8 MtCO₂ per annum across Scotland.

There are significant assumptions that sit behind the above estimation. These include:

• Stirling’s policy does not specify the type of land that will be converted, the detailed timescales for planting (impacting when the new tree stock will be at maturity), nor the preferred species of tree to be reforested.
• The policy does not value the GHG emission impact of planting new trees.
• We have assumed that the afforested trees will sequester emissions at their peak potential (i.e. a mature forest). This means the estimated emissions removals are limited by the fact we have not modelled a progressive change in sequestration over time, accounting for the growth of new woodland, such as that outlined by the Woodland Carbon Code (UK Woodland Carbon Code, 2021).

Summary

During our research we found that local authorities were eager to develop and create policies for land use that could make a quantifiable impact. One common theme across all local authorities was the consideration of peatland as one of the most impactful policies to reduce their carbon emissions. There are abundant resources provided by the IUCN peatland code (IUCN, 2023) that local authorities could access to begin developing strong peatland restoration policies.

Policy briefing: Net zero transport

Background

Scotland has ambitious targets to reduce transport emissions to net-zero by 2045 (Transport Scotland, 2019a). Transport emissions are one of the largest GHG inventory categories, accounting for 24% of overall territorial emissions (DESNZ, 2023). This is reflected in the number of transport policies identified across local authority climate change strategies. The policies in the section below demonstrate how local authorities are driving forward transport solutions.

Figure 6: Potential impact on transport territorial GHG emissions across Scotland for a net zero transport policy

Figure 6 shows the total estimated impact on transport GHG emissions by each individual policy, moving the inventory from 9,878 MtCO₂e emission per annum to 8,351 MtCO₂e through a combination of seven polices.

The Scottish National Transport Strategy states that 40% of transport emissions come from fossil fuelled cars. Recognising the impact that internal combustion engine cars have, local authorities have started to introduce policies targeted specifically at reducing these emissions. (Transport Scotland, 2019a).

High private use car use does not just affect GHG emissions, it also has a significant impact on air quality, health and pedestrian safety. Private car use contributes to high pollutions levels and with transport contributing to 1/6 of Scotland’s particulate matter (PM10) it is clear this is an area for policy focus (Transport Scotland, 2019a).

Local authorities understand the need for potent policies to be in line with national targets such as the goal to reduce car kilometres driven by 20% by 2030. These range from encouraging more active travel through the creation of active travel corridors and implementing low emissions zones in congested zones.

Active transport

The figures for this policy were modelled using Argyll and Bute Council’s Decarbonisation Plan 2022-2025 (Argyll and Bute Council, 2021). £2.3 million has been invested in delivering a wide range of active travel initiatives such as improved pathways, community cycle repair stands, cycle parking and new cycling routes. Through a combination of similar initiatives, a viable aim would be to convert 47% of remaining road journeys of up to 3km to active travel, which was the average proportion of active travel journeys up to 3km in 2019 (Transport Scotland, 2019b). The Council has committed to develop an Active Travel Strategy that would drive the policy forward at a future stage, but up to this point, resource to deliver the policy is dependent on external funding awards and is not covered by council budgets.

Homeworking

This policy has been valued as a proportion of the 262,000 Scottish FTE public sector total workforce (Scottish Government, 2022) working from home for 50% of their contracted hours. Reducing the average commute of 20 km round trip to office locations made in 73% of circumstances by personal car (Scottish Government, 2022b). Further potential emission reductions could be achieved through reduced operation of offices, such as heating, lighting, equipment and other operational emissions, although these have not been factored into our current study. However, it should be noted that emissions from reduced transport are minimal due to increased emissions associated with staff working from home (Riley et al., 2021).

Low-emission zones

Currently, there are four low emission zones (LEZ) in Scotland with enforcement for Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh being introduced in 2024. Glasgow’s LEZ is integrated with the City Development Plan 2, Glasgow Transport Strategy and their Climate Plan to implement the change. The LEZ has been operating since 2018 with the aim of encouraging more active travel and public transport use in the city centre. The policy was implemented in phases to ensure low levels of disruption for residents, which should be a key consideration if scaling this across Scotland. Using findings from the London LEZ (Mayor of London, 2023), we have assumed a 4% CO₂ saving on emissions from transport on minor roads, to account for the fact LEZs will likely be operational in urban areas.

Decarbonisation of public transport

Climate targets published in the Stirling Climate & Nature Emergency Plan (Stirling Council, 2022) aim to reduce GHG emissions from public transport by an interim target of 25% in 2030, with an overall target of 75% by 2045. This has been extrapolated using population as a function to estimate the number of people served by public transport. However, the provision of public transport across Scotland is dependent on several factors, including sparseness of the population and socioeconomic circumstance, which are not accounted for in the potential emissions impact estimation. Further work should be undertaken to quantify the benefits.

Decarbonisation of fleet vehicles

This policy’s emissions were modelled using the estimated number of 28,800 fleet vehicles in the Scottish public sector (Scottish Futures Trust, 2022). We applied a conversion factor for assumed petrol cars, diesel LGVs and HGVs (BEIS, 2023). The average number of kilometres travelled annually is 12,000 km (Scottish Futures Trust, 2022). Post-conversion to EV emissions are zero, as per emission factor guidance. It is worth noting that EV technology for HGVs is under development and may not play a major role until post-2030 (Transport & Environment, 2023).

Council business travel

These emissions were estimated based on climate targets published in the Stirling Climate & Nature Emergency Plan (Stirling Council, 2022). The plan sets out the ambition of reducing baseline transport emissions (4,450 tCO₂) by the interim target of 45% by 2030, and the overall target emission reduction of 90% by 2045. This has been applied across the other local authorities, using population as a proxy. Further research to quantify emissions for each local authority would need to be carried out to refine these estimates.

LEV taxi licences

Stirling Climate & Nature Emergency Plan (Stirling Council, 2022) sets out the authority’s commitment to 100% of all taxis operating in the region being EVs by 2045. Using this as a foundation, we have valued the policy ambition in potential national GHG territorial emission impact.

There are 20,396 taxi licences registered across the 32 local authorities in Scotland of which 9,928 were registered as of 2021 (Transport Scotland, 2021). 1.9% are thought to be ULEVS (DfT, 2023). The policy will seek to increase the share of ULEV licences to 100% by 2045 effectively curtailing the emissions from private car hire.

To calculate the GHG emission impact, we anticipate that the average number of kilometres travelled per annum per capita is 80.85 km taken from the average number of trips made in the UK, by mode of transport (DESNZ, 2023) across the population of Scotland (5,563,000). Assumed that most private hire taxis are diesel cars, we applied the emission factor for a diesel car from BEIS company reporting datasets (BEIS, 2023) to calculate a saving on emission of 76.36 ktCO₂e.

Summary

It is clear from our research that transport is a key focus for all local authorities across Scotland due to the interlinked impacts spanning multiple socio-economic factors. Transport policies are very publicly visual in their delivery, making it easy for local authorities to point toward action being taken. In this section we have outlined some of the transport-related policies that could potentially be rolled out across Scotland’s local authorities. There is great potential to support local authorities to drive ambitious change in transport emissions, many of whom are already showing innovative solutions to enacting change in their local area. We have also given high-level estimates of potential emissions reductions if some of the most mature existing travel policies were scaled up.

Conclusions

Through pursuit of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), the Scottish Government has set the foundations for local authorities to drive their own locally led net zero agendas, directly tackling territorial greenhouse emissions from buildings. This research sought to investigate the role of local authorities in addressing emissions across other inventory categories, to replicate the success and best practice generated by LHEES.

From the evidence reviewed and from the interviews with local authorities, it is clear that there is local authority ambition to deliver climate policies that tackle local climate challenges, at the same time as delivering emissions reductions that go above and beyond national targets. Our climate strategy register details 69 current local authority climate-relevant strategies and describes the action being taken across all emission categories. We uncovered several climate change strategies that clearly detail intent, value their potential impacts and address resourcing and funding needs. Further research could be carried out to establish best-practice guidance on the development of climate policies, using existing local authority approaches as the foundation. This would help improve consistency across local authorities in how they value policy impacts and Scottish Government’s understanding of the resourcing, skills and funding needed to deliver.

This research assessed local authority strategies and policies to find where the most mature and impactful local authority climate policies have been developed. We scaled-up the emission reduction potential of the strongest of these local policies to give high-level-indicative estimates of what the impact could be in other local authorities and at a national level. Combining all of the analysis, we identified the greatest potential for impactful local authority controlled policies on territorial emissions to be within the LULUCF and transport categories.

For these to be implemented across Scotland, we found that the Scottish Government has a key role to play. They can provide effective leadership through facilitating best-practice knowledge sharing, improved access to skilled resource and targeted funding initiatives.

Territorial GHG policies are complex and data-driven, requiring specialist resource to develop and deliver, which we found does not always exist within individual local authorities. The Scottish Climate Intelligence Service has recently been launched in response to this barrier for many local authorities. Further research could expand on the capacity and capability requirements to deliver local authority climate policies between now and 2045, including methods by which the resourcing needs could be met.

Finally, funding is key to driving forward all the strategies and policies we have reviewed in this research. There are many pockets of funding available to local authorities to deliver climate policies. However, the interviews show that the funding is often piecemeal and short-term. Further investigation could help quantify the funding available for tackling each GHG inventory, where further funding might best be directed and methods for administrating funding to ensure that national ambitions can be met.

References

Argyll and Bute Council, 2021. Decarbonisation Plan 2022-2025, s.l.: s.n.

Audit Scotland, 2022. Scotland’s councils’ approach to addressing climate change. s.l.:s.n.

BEIS, 2022. Digest of UK Energy Statistics – Annual data for UK, 2021, London: Crown.

BEIS, 2023. Government conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting

BEIS, 2023. Green Book supplementary guidance: valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for appraisal, London: Crown Commerical.

BEIS, 2023. UK Greenhouse Gas Emission Statistics: Frequently Asked Questions, London: Crown Copyright.

Carbon Rewild, 2020. Exploring the Carbon Capture Potential of Different Land Types. [Online]
Available at: https://carbonrewild.com/exploring-the-carbon-capture-potential-of-different-land-types/#:~:text=Wetlands%20are%20globally%20considered%20a,grow%20in%20or%20on%20water

Carbon Store, n.d. Carbon Sequestration. [Online]
Available at: https://carbonstoreuk.com/publications/carbon-sequestration-the-basics/#:~:text=As%20trees%20grow%2C%20the%20process,CO%E2%82%82%20as%20they%20are%20sequestering.

Climate Change Committee, 2022. Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland – 2022 Report to Parliament, s.l.: s.n.

Climate Change Order, 2015. Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015. s.l.:s.n.

DESNZ, 2023. Average number of trips by purpose and main mode. [Online]
Available at: Average number of trips by purpose and main mode

DESNZ, 2023. UK local authority and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics, 2005 to 2021. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-local-authority-and-regional-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-2005-to-2021
[Accessed 01 November 2023].

DfT, 2023. NTS0409: Average number of trips and distance travelled by purpose and main mode: England, 2002 onwards, s.l.: Department for Transport.

EcoTree, 2023. How much CO2 does a tree absorb?. [Online]
Available at: https://ecotree.green/en/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb

Environmental Standards Scotland, 2023. An investigation into the effectiveness of the systems in place to support local authorities in their duty to contribute to the delivery of climate change targets, s.l.: s.n.

Glasgow City Council, 2022. Glasgow’s Climate Plan, Glasgow: Glasgow City Council.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol, 2014. Policy and Action Standard: An accounting and reporting standard for estimating the greenhouse gas effects of policies and actions, s.l.: World Resources Institute.

HM Treasury, 2020. Magenta Book: Central Government guidance on evaluation, London: UK Government.

Improvement Service, 2023. Climate Intelligence Service. [Online]
Available at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/consultancy-and-support/climate-change/climate-intelligence-service

IPCC, 2006. Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, s.l.: s.n.

IUCN, 2010. Peatlands and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction in Scotland, s.l.: IUCN.

IUCN, 2023. Peatland Code. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/peatland-code-0

Mayor of London, 2023. Inner London Ultra Low Emission Zone Expansion One Year Report. [Online]
Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/environment-and-climate-change-publications/inner-london-ultra-low-emission-zone-expansion-one-year-report?auHash=IxeIM3L6iJh-CwYvb2wek2UKMCSJvpOqMgtpRAMt5B8

Nature Scot, 2022. LLC3 Urban Vacant and Derelict Land, s.l.: s.n.

NatureScot, 2023. Blanket bog. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nature.scot/landscapes-and-habitats/habitat-types/mountains-heaths-and-bogs/blanket-bog#:~:text=Blanket%20bog%20is%20one%20of,23%25%20of%20our%20land%20area.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, 2023. The role of local government and its cross-sectoral partners in financing and delivering a net-zero Scotland, Edinburgh: The Scottish Parliament.

Scottish Futures Trust, 2022. Phasing out petrol and diesel cars & vans from public sector fleet, Edinburgh: Scottish Futures Trust.

Scottish Government, 2020. Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018 – 2032: Securing a Green Recovery on a Path to Net Zero, s.l.: s.n.

Scottish Government, 2022a. About public sector employment statistics. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/about-public-sector-employment-statistics/pages/local-government-employment/

Scottish Government, 2022b. Census data – Transport. [Online]
Available at: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/census-results/at-a-glance/transport/

Scottish Government, 2022. Biodiversity strategy to 2045: tackling the nature emergency, Edinburgh: ScotGov.

Scottish Government, 2022. Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 2nd Quarter 2022. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-sector-employment-scotland-statistics-2nd-quarter-2022/pages/6/

SSN, 2023b. Reporting: Public Bodies Climate Change Duties. [Online]
Available at: https://sustainablescotlandnetwork.org/reports
[Accessed 07 07 2023].

Stirling Council, 2022. Climate and Nature Emergency Plan 2021 – 2045, Stirling: Stirling Council.

Transport & Environment, 2023. Electric HGVs will soon be cheaper overall than diesels in the UK. [Online]
Available at: https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/electric-hgvs-will-soon-be-cheaper-overall-than-diesels-in-the-uk/

Transport Scotland, 2019a. National Transport Strategy, Edinburgh: s.n.

Transport Scotland, 2019b. Transport and Travel in Scotland 2019: Results from the Scottish Household Survey, Edinburgh: s.n.

Transport Scotland, 2021. Scottish Transport Statistics, Glasgow: ScotGov.

Transport Scotland, 2022. Scottish Transport Statistics (2021) Personal and cross-modal travel, s.l.: Transport Scotland.

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Available at: https://www.woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/standard-and-guidance/3-carbon-sequestration/3-3-project-carbon-sequestration

Williamson, R., Sudmant, A., Gouldson, A. & Brogan, J., 2020. A Net-Zero Carbon Roadmap for Edinburgh, s.l.: PCAN & Edinburgh Climate Commission.

Appendices

Detailed methodology

Selection of climate strategies

The research identified 69 separate climate-related strategies across the 32 local authorities. To determine which were the key strategies to take forward to develop greenhouse gas emission boundaries, we designed five selection criteria to score each of the strategies against the metrics in 3.

We developed a screening matrix that ranked the strategies against five criteria outlined in Table 5 and determined the level of maturity on a scale of 1-3, assessing the level of evidence provided in a climate change strategy as yes / no / partial. We further embellished the five section criteria to ensure the strategies selected covered, as a collective, each of the six greenhouse gas emission inventories

Following presentation of the final policies selected with the steering group, a further consideration was made to ensure that at least one climate strategy from a local authority located outside of Scotland’s central belt was included, to ensure a better geographical spread. This resulted in the addition of Dumfries and Galloway Council to the climate boundary task.

Greenhouse gas emission boundaries and scenario emissions calculations and limitations

It is impractical to measure greenhouse gas emissions impact in real time from every chimney, exhaust, or acre of land use. GHG emission estimates are based on a series of models that estimate emissions from different sources (BEIS, 2023). The calculations performed for each of the scenario emissions is in line with international guidance (IPCC, 2006). We used government conversion factors for company reporting of greenhouse gas emissions (BEIS, 2023), Green Book supplementary guidance on the valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for appraisal (BEIS, 2023) and from IPCC guidance (IPCC, 2006). Other sources were researched from literature in the absence of standardised sets of emission factors.

The basic equation used to quantify scenario emissions is:

Equation 1: GHG scenario emissions

• Activity data is a variable that is changed by a policy. For example, a policy may look to reduce the number of kilometres travelled by private car.
• Emission factor is a constant that is used to convert the activity data to an impact. In most cases, this will be a GHG emission conversion factor.
• The impact estimate can either form a policy target or metric by which to measure success. Typically, this will be a GHG emission saving but it could also include other benefits (e.g. societal).

An example of this methodology in practice would be estimating GHG emissions from vehicles. The activity data might be the total number of kilometres travelled by that type of vehicle and the emission factor would be the amount of CO₂ emitted per kilometre.

Emission factors for energy sources are either dependent on the fuel characteristics (for emissions of CO₂) or how the fuel is burned, for example the size and efficiency of equipment used. For other sources, the emission factor can be dependent on a range of parameters, such as feed characteristics for livestock or the chemical reactions taking place for industrial process emissions. Emission factors are typically derived from measurements on several representative sources and the resulting factor applied to all similar sources in the UK.

This approach follows the ‘Tier 1’ approach as set out in IPCC guidance for national greenhouse gas inventories (IPCC, 2006):

Table 5: Quantification of GHG emission impact

An example of how an emission factor was applied to an activity is converting 1 tonne of municipal waste to 1 tonne of recycled waste as part of a landfill reduction strategy. Using emission conversion factors from government conversion factors for company reporting (BEIS, 2023), 1 tonne of waste sent to landfill has a greenhouse gas intensity of 497 kgCO₂e/tonne. A tonne of waste recycled has a greenhouse gas intensity of 21 kgCO₂e/tonne. Comparisons made between the two indicate a net greenhouse gas benefit of avoiding waste going to landfill.

As noted in Table 5, this is a basic methodological approach, using emissions and conversion factors from representative sources not specific to Scottish local authorities. In some instances, population data has been used as a proxy where local authority specific data was not available. The activity data was also derived from a variety of sources encompassing a range of levels of confidence (see Appendix 13.2). As such there is a high level of uncertainty in the estimated projected emissions reductions.

Sources for emissions equations

As described in the methodology section above, the figures presented in Tables 3, 4, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and Figures 5 and 6 used the basic equation activity data x emission factor. The emissions factors were primarily drawn from Green Book supplementary guidance: valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for appraisal (BEIS, 2023) and Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC, 2006). However, in some cases additional sources were drawn on. The activity data was calculated using a range of sources. The sources are presented in Table 7 below, by GHG inventory category.

Table 7: Sources for emissions calculations by inventory category

Climate change strategy register

Quantifying impact

In the development of the emission boundaries, we applied two measures of assessing impact: Likelihood and Magnitude.

Likelihood

Likelihood is defined as the probability or chance that a given policy will achieve its intended impact or target. We have applied IPCC Guidance (IPCC, 2006) to determine likelihood as outlined in Table 8.

There are several considerations made when assessing the likelihood, a policy has in achieving its intended outcomes.

• Sphere of control: a measure of how much control a local authority has over whether action is taken against a policy. This ranges on a scale from absolute where a policy is enacted through legislation, through to voluntary where a policy results in stakeholders making a pledge.
• Capacity and capability: whether the local authority have the resources it needs to actively measure and enforce the provisions within a policy once it is active.
• Timescale: the impacts of policies may require consistent action taken over several years, or even decades. This can prove difficult as socioeconomic needs shift over time meaning that policies may also need to adapt over time, changing impacts and targets.

An example of a policy that is ‘very likely’ to meet its intended targets is a Low Emission Zone whereby a local authority has absolute ability to determine the classification of vehicles that enter its zone. Compare this to a policy improving active travel provision whereby the intended benefits are somewhat dependent on stakeholders enacting the policy out of their own free-will.

Magnitude

Magnitude is a simple measure of a policy’s potential impact on an inventory’s emissions. Following IPCC guidance (IPCC, 2006), we have set the following impact boundaries to rank the valued policies:

Policy descriptions

Table 10: Descriptions of 13 climate policies collated from six chosen local authorities for valuation, including example targets and KPIs set by the local authorities

Valuing greenhouse gas emissions

Table 21: Total territorial greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO₂e), by inventory (BEIS, 2022)

Table 32: Estimated potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO2e) from Agriculture and LULUCF policies

Table 13: Estimated impact on greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO2e) from Transport policies

Table 44: Estimated potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO2e) from Waste policies

Table 15: Estimated potential impact on total territorial greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO2e), by inventory

Table 56: Percentage change in territorial greenhouse gas emissions (ktCO2e) from implementing policies

© Published by Turner & Townsend, 2023 on behalf of ClimateXChange. All rights reserved.

While every effort is made to ensure the information in this report is accurate, no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors, omissions, or misleading statements. The views expressed represent those of the author(s), and do not necessarily represent those of the host institutions or funders.

1. 
   

   Active transport typically means a human-powered form of transport such as walking or cycling. ↑

   
   
2. 
   

   For example, a policy might be to increase the number of journeys under 5km completed by active travel. ↑

   
   
3. 
   

   ArcGIS is a family of client, server, and online geographic information system (GIS) that enables users to create, analyse, visualise, and share spatial data such as maps. ↑

   
   

The Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan emphasises the importance of local and community energy projects for supporting Scotland’s net zero and just transition ambitions.

This study examines how those projects can help deliver against these ambitions within devolved powers. The research explored developments in local and community energy and assessed key innovations, opportunities and barriers, and how to leverage those projects to support Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes (NJTOs).

The report contains:

• Six overarching recommendations to help increase the contribution of the local and community energy sectors to Scotland’s Just Transition.
• A set of 19 evidence-based actions to increase local and community energy as the Scottish Government develops the final version of its flagship Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Summary findings

• Local and community energy can directly contribute to all eight of Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes.
• There are key barriers to delivering against these outcomes across sectors:
  • limited resources to build capacity for local and community energy projects in underserved areas
  • challenges around skills and project delivery processes particularly within local authorities
  • justice and equity issues within projects themselves
  • lack of appropriate finance and business models

Further details on the findings can be found in the report attached.

Podcast and blog

Dr Jess Hogan from Regen gives an overview of this project and the findings in episode 12 of our podcast: Evidence for climate policy in Scotland

A blog post summarising the podcast interview is also available on our website: Project snapshot: Benefits of local and community energy

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/3892

Executive summary

Aims

The Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan emphasises the importance of local and community energy projects for supporting Scotland’s net zero and just transition ambitions.

This study aimed to understand how those projects can help deliver against these ambitions within devolved powers. The research explored developments in local and community energy and assessed key innovations, opportunities and barriers, and how to leverage those projects to support Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes (NJTOs).

The methodology included a literature review, interviews with citizens, local and community energy practitioners and other key energy and just transition stakeholders (including just transition experts and researchers; local authorities; fuel poverty and third sector charities; energy finance and investment stakeholders; energy developers and networks; and those working in local energy innovation initiatives such as the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme and a deliberative ‘People’s Panel’ with Scottish citizens.

Findings

• Looking at evidence from Scotland and across the UK, we have found that local and community energy can directly contribute to all eight of Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes.
• There are key barriers to delivering against these outcomes across sectors: limited resources to build capacity for local and community energy projects in underserved areas; challenges around skills and project delivery processes particularly within local authorities; justice and equity issues within projects themselves; and lack of appropriate finance and business models.

Recommendations

We set out six overarching recommendations to help increase the contribution of the local and community energy sectors to Scotland’s Just Transition, and provide a set of 19 evidence-based actions to increase local and community energy as the Scottish Government develops the final version of its flagship Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The recommendations are designed for Scottish Government policymakers and other key partners, including local government, delivery bodies, the energy industry, communities and wider stakeholders working across energy, heat in buildings, transport, land use and planning, economic development, communities and fuel poverty. There are also wider lessons for those developing local and community energy approaches across the UK and Europe with a just transition in mind.

• Increase community capacity and outreach, including resource for and awareness of the local and community energy sectors to support capacity-building, effective project development and outreach, particularly in typically excluded communities.
• Support the development of new local and community energy models, including the skills, resource and networks required for communities and local authorities to fully embrace them.
• Enhance community ownership of energy and governance of projects, ensuring these are accessible, accountable and transparent, with proactive inclusion of marginalised and excluded groups.
• Increase participation and engagement, ensuring that all groups and communities have a fair opportunity to engage with local and community energy projects, to help participate in governance and decision making, and shape projects from the beginning.
• Develop sustainable finance, funding and investment models that ensure those who can’t afford to pay are not excluded and that maximum value is retained locally, with just transition outcomes explicitly prioritised.
• Open up benefits of local and community energy projects to as wide a range of people and places as possible, from decarbonisation and bill savings, to skills, through to supply chains.

Abbreviations table

Introduction

Community energy in Scotland

For over a decade, Scotland has strived to lead the way in local and community energy, with a Scottish Government target to reach two gigawatts of installed local and community-owned capacity by 2030 (Scottish Government, 2021a).

While aspects of energy policy and regulation in the UK are reserved, limiting the work that Scottish Government can do to fully enable local and community energy in Scotland, the Scottish Government has fostered a favourable policy environment for this sector. This is mainly through providing funding via the Community and Renewables Energy Scheme (CARES) to support the development and delivery of local and community energy projects. CARES has supported over 800 projects and 1000 organisations with over £61 million in funding (Scottish Government 2023b).

More recently, the Scottish Government has supported local authorities to deliver their own Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies, which will set the foundation for more local energy systems and initiatives (2022a). Alongside this, there has been the announcement of the Onshore Wind Sector Deal (Scottish Government 2023c) – a shared commitment between the Scottish Government and industry to deliver against Scotland’s ambition of 20 gigawatts of onshore wind by 2030, in a way that aligns with the principles of a just transition.

Within this positive context, there are clear opportunities to further accelerate Scotland’s good work on local and community energy so far. Local and community energy, such as community-owned wind and solar, or district heat projects led by local authorities, can provide substantial social, economic and environmental benefits to people, places and a range of other stakeholders.

The benefits of local and community energy include: new revenue streams for local areas; new business and investment opportunities; reduced emissions; climate education and outreach; climate adaptation and resilience; improved capacity in local communities; new skills and job creation; and reduced fuel poverty (Ford et al., 2019; Gooding et al., 2020; PwC, 2022). Community and local energy also provides an opportunity to make Scotland’s net zero transition more local, democratic and inclusive, with energy projects and solutions better tailored to local needs.

These diverse benefits mean that local and community energy is well placed to contribute to achieving against Scotland’s eight National Just Transition Outcomes (NJTO) (Box 1). The National Just Transition Outcomes are a set of goals designed by Scottish Government, informed by the Just Transition Commission (2023), to help mitigate the risks of climate action and unlock the opportunities that a just transition presents across sectors and policy areas (Scottish Government 2022b). Within the context of the finalisation of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) and aligned policies such as the Heat in Buildings Strategy, local and community energy could thus have a significant role to play.

Methodology

In this report, we outline how to develop the local and community energy sector in Scotland in such a way that it delivers against Scotland’s NJTOs. To do so, we conducted a three-step research approach (these are detailed in appendices A and B). First, we conducted an extensive review of academic, policy and project literature and case studies. This allowed us to understand the most recent thinking and developments in the local and community energy space, and identify key just transition trends and issues.

Second, we interviewed 22 expert stakeholders. These included: community energy organisations; just transition experts and researchers; local authorities; fuel poverty and third sector charities; energy finance and investment; energy developers and networks; and those working in local energy innovation initiatives such as the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme (UKRI, 2023). These stakeholders were chosen to give a breadth of perspectives on leveraging local and community energy for just transition outcomes beyond energy specialists alone, and to understand any key points of conflict between sectors and stakeholders.

Third, we conducted a “People’s Panel” with 22 Scottish citizens, most of whom were from lower income areas of the country. This helped to understand the opportunities and barriers people faced to participating in local and community energy projects, and how these sectors could best be opened up to improve buy-in from communities and provide diverse NJTO benefits to people and places.

There was higher representation from both citizens and local and community energy practitioners than renewable energy developers and businesses in this process. This was deliberate, because citizens and local and community organisations, particularly those working on just transition issues, have not always been involved in such discussions, yet can provide crucial insights on how to best open up local and community energy for a wider range of just transition outcomes. This means that our findings in turn reflect the perspective of those stakeholders more. Further engagement with energy developers and businesses would help make recommendations more robust.

What is local and community energy?

The Local Energy Policy Statement (Scottish Government 2021a) outlines three main categories of community and local energy projects (Table 1).

Across these categories, 908 megawatts of Scotland’s 2 gigawatt target for local and community energy has been delivered. This includes a mix of community energy projects, local authority energy projects, social and housing association developments, public sector investments, as well as initiatives in businesses and on farms and estates.

Table 1. Three categories of local and community energy per the Local Energy Policy Statement (2021)

Although they share a number of key features, community energy, local energy and local energy systems do have distinct differences.

Community energy is typically characterised by grassroots action, where a community (either a community of place or of shared interest) comes together to design, implement, and manage a renewable energy asset or project. This might be a community energy generation project, such as a wind turbine or solar panels, or a heat, retrofit or transport scheme. These are often driven by a shared mission to deliver environmental, social and economic value for a specific place, with democratic input and governance (Brummer 2018; Creamer et al. 2020; Stewart 2021; Hanke et al. 2021).

Local energy and local energy systems are more diverse. They tend to have less of a primary focus on communities, and can be delivered though multi-stakeholder collaborations, often led by local authorities or the public sector, or through public-private collaborations (Ford et al., 2019; UKRI and Regen, 2022). They are less like the grassroots model seen in community energy and more akin to local authority-led or partnership approaches (Devine-Wright, 2019).

Value against Scotland’s NJTOs

Table 2. Value from local and community energy across National Just Transition Outcomes

Different models of local and community energy will have different implications for Scotland’s NJTOs. Community-owned energy generation, for instance, is particularly strong on citizens, communities and place, by bringing people together to deliver projects and generating new revenues for local economic development. Community-owned energy generation projects also tend to be strongly motivated by climate and environmental outcomes (Community Energy Scotland, 2022; Community Energy England, 2022; Stewart, 2021).

Local energy and local energy systems tend to focus more on delivering economic value, such as a larger-scale return on investment for stakeholders, and new jobs and skills in retrofit, system installation, maintenance, etc. (Ford et al., 2019; Gooding et al., 2020; PwC 2022).

1. Table 2 above outlines the high-level opportunity of local and community energy approaches for Scotland’s NJTOs. Table 3 illustrates the value that each main category has had so far for each of the NJTOs (Low = low value for NJTO) based on our review of empirical research and engagement with local and community energy stakeholders. A detailed qualitative analysis of these relationships across community energy, local energy, and local energy systems can be found in Appendix C

Appendix C: Local and community energy just transition outcome impacts.

Table 3. Illustration of how priorities for local and community energy vary against the eight NJTOs

Table 3 and Appendix C highlight important qualitative differences in how community energy, local energy, and local energy systems deliver value against different NJTOs. However, projects can vary substantially within these broad categories. This also leads to variations in impact on NJTOs.

For example, a local energy project that focuses on decarbonising council buildings, such as leisure centres or commercial properties, will contribute less to NJTOs 1, 3 and 8 than one that supports council housing tenants to decarbonise their homes. A community energy project which uses generation assets to provide new revenues to deliver energy advice and local environmental protection will also contribute more towards NJTOs 1, 2, 6 and 7 than wind turbines installed on a farm or estate.

As such, supporting a balance of different types of projects across regions and areas can help contribute to all of Scotland’s just transition outcomes, allowing projects to meet local need. Projects themselves can also be supported to become fairer and more inclusive, which we deal with later in this report.

Just transition: processes and outcomes

Outcomes are only one part of the picture. As the Scottish Government (2021b) highlights, a just transition is also about process. This means that projects should be designed to enable people to take part in decision-making around the project. Who owns, gets a say, participates in, pays for and benefits from local and community energy projects all have implications for how just projects are considered to be by communities.

From our review of academic evidence and stakeholder engagement, we identified four key dimensions along which projects vary, with implications for how just they are considered to be. These dimensions are applicable to all types of local and community energy and should be considered together (Table 4).

Table 4: Key dimensions for ‘just’ local and community energy projects

From this analysis, leveraging local and community energy for a just transition means: expanding local and community energy across regions as a whole; and creating the right policy and delivery environment to enable projects to be more just in their processes and outcomes.

In the next section, we provide a high-level overview of key models and developments in each sector. The remainder of the report then provides recommendations for Scottish and Local Government policymakers and delivery bodies working across energy, heat in buildings, transport, land use and planning, economics, local government, communities and fuel poverty.

While this report does not represent Scottish Government policy, it makes recommendations to inform the role of local and community energy in key national policies, including the forthcoming final ESJTP as well as delivery of adjacent strategies such as implementation of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) and wider Heat in Buildings Strategy, Community Wealth Building, and Local Development Plans under National Planning Framework 4.

Community energy

Community energy has flourished in Scotland during the last decade, with 101 megawatts of community-owned generation capacity reported to be in operation or in-development as of December 2022 (Scottish Energy Statistics Hub 2023). Many other projects are also in motion e.g. decarbonisation of heat and transport. This is illustrated in the illustration opposite which shows a community using renewable energy.

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), administered by Local Energy Scotland, has provided over £60 million development and capital support. Community energy has thus enjoyed a favourable devolved policy ecosystem. Key developments in the community energy sector are as follows:

‘Traditional’ community ownership and community shared ownership generation projects; Rooftop solar and ‘traditional’ wind projects on community land and buildings; many-to-many power purchase agreements with public sector and commercial offtakers; exploring opportunities to link with community-owned land and housing

Community-owned electric vehicle charging, sometimes paired with car sharing.

Generation and supply

Heat and energy efficiency

Transport

Decarbonisation of community buildings using heat pumps and energy efficiency, providing lower bills to help keep social spaces open and warm hubs over winter; exploring potential for district heat networks and bulk purchase of heat pumps; community-led efficiency and retrofit programmes.

Just transition outcome contribution: citizens, communities and place; climate adaptation and resilience; environmental protection and restoration; decarbonisation and efficiencies; equality and human rights.

Key developments

Generation and supply

Since the winding down of the UK Government Feed-In Tariff – replaced by the less lucrative Smart Export Guarantee – community energy generation in Scotland and the UK has been forced to rely on other models.

This has often taken the form of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with local stakeholders such as councils, colleges, businesses and hospitals – or directly with utility companies (Community Energy England 2022; Crown Commercial Services 2020).

PPA’s are arrangements where either utilities or local bodies can purchase energy from community-owned generation for a fixed term at a fixed price. In the case of Edinburgh Solar Cooperative, for instance, the Cooperative installed solar panels on a number of City of Edinburgh Council buildings (City of Edinburgh Council 2014). The solar panels provide some of the electricity generated to the buildings on which they are installed at a reduced rate compared to typical market tariffs. This is facilitated by a Power Purchase Agreement.

The traditional model of selling energy to the national grid is also still used, particularly with larger-scale wind and solar projects using local or community land which are better-placed to make a return than smaller installations (Community Energy England, Scotland, Wales 2022). This in turn provides community benefit funding which can be used to deliver against just transition outcomes. In particular, state of the sector reports show that this has been used for:

• Building capacity in communities through social gathering, engagement, and outreach
• Delivering energy advice and advocacy and helping people in fuel poverty
• Promoting climate education through hosting workshops, events and cafes
• Developing climate adaptation measures, such as investing in green spaces or nature restoration

Heat and energy efficiency

Decarbonisation of community buildings has been the predominant form of community heat progress in Scotland (Local Energy Scotland, 2023a). This includes installing efficiency measures and heat pumps to reduce bills for public and shared use buildings e.g. community centres. This can help reduce costs for running community spaces, provide sustainable and warm social centres for local residents and support education around new technologies or initiatives.

More ambitious heat projects are being explored, such as bulk purchase of heat pumps for local homes and district heat networks, for instance by Local Energy Scotland’s CARES-funded Community Heat Development Programme (2023b).

However, these remain expensive and complex undertakings for community organisations at present. The legal, financial and technical expertise required is significant, meaning organisations that rely on volunteers and limited resource struggle to deliver them effectively. Within Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), there is scope for communities to work with local authorities to identify opportunities and deliver such projects in partnership. Projects elsewhere in the UK, such as Swaffham Prior, show how community heat and community energy generation can work together in partnership with local authorities and the private sector to deliver such projects successfully (Cambridgeshire Country Council, 2023).

There have also been advances in community approaches to energy efficiency and retrofit. Community organisations such as the Carbon Coop in Manchester (People Powered Retrofit, 2021), Loco Home Retrofit in Glasgow (2023), and the Heat Project Blairgowrie (2023) have been supporting homeowners to install energy efficiency measures along with low carbon technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels.

This provides new opportunities to support people in often disadvantaged or excluded communities to decarbonise, and jobs, skills and education opportunities for local businesses and tradespeople.

Transport

Local and community transport projects have broadly taken the form of electric vehicle (EV) charging points, either supplied by local generation assets as funded by Brighton Energy Coop’s Community Solar Accelerator Grant scheme (2021), or as assets themselves, creating revenue through subscription and pay-as-you-go tariffs as with the Charge My Street initiative (2023).

EV charging is seen as a relatively low-risk project by community energy stakeholders spoken to as part of this research. However, installing chargers does rely on locational factors such as the availability of network capacity and parking facilities, as well as people using the chargers themselves to generate revenue (typically more affluent groups – see Hopkins et al., 2023).

Local energy

Local energy has experienced considerable growth in recent years, and has become increasingly salient in energy policy thinking.

Recent research estimates that 1 in 5 UK local authorities now have some form of local energy project, which can take various forms across a range of scales (Arvanitopoulos et al. 2022).

Similar to community energy, local energy tends to encompass generation and supply projects,
heat and energy efficiency schemes, and transport solutions. This is illustrated in the image opposite which shows a variety of buildings being served by the same energy source in a community. Local energy includes:

Local authorities delivering e-bikes, EV charging etc., EV charging in social and housing and associations.

Local authorities delivering Community Wealth Building-style (CWB) projects (North Ayrshire) and solar in council housing; solar and storage in social/housing associations; commercial and business properties installing own technologies.

Generation and supply

Heat and energy efficiency

Transport

Local authority and commercial district heat networks (Edinburgh Vattenfall) and heat pumps, including in leisure centres; place-based energy efficiency approaches; commercial and business properties installing own technologies.

Just transition outcome contribution: citizens, communities and place; jobs, skills and education; fair distribution of costs and benefits; decarbonisation and efficiencies; equality and human rights (when targeted at lower income households).

Key developments

Generation and supply

At a local level, local authorities, housing associations and social housing providers are increasingly decarbonising their electricity supply (UKRI and Regen 2022). This has mostly taken the form of installing solar panels (often with battery storage) in their housing stock to reduce bills for tenants, and in a wider decarbonisation of public, commercial and industrial buildings.

Often working with low income social housing tenants directly, this has created value for decarbonisation and efficiencies, and had a further impact on equality and human rights through tackling fuel poverty. Compared to community energy, local authorities have direct access to their own housing stock, making installation of measures for lower income groups more straightforward. Delivering measures is still challenging for the private rented or owner-occupier sectors, however.

Some local authorities such as North Ayrshire Council (2020) have been leading the way to deliver just transition value, through advancing plans for using council-owned energy generation to fund work addressing fuel poverty, as well as energy efficiency and Community Wealth Building programmes (Figure 1). In addition to contributions to the just energy transition, this also has the potential to deliver jobs, skills and education, as well as provide a strong boost to citizens, communities and place through enabling local value generation, retention, and more open decision making.

Revenues reinvested in local economy, eg:

• Tackling fuel poverty
• New jobs and skills
• Local business and economic development
• Other energy projects
• As per local need

Money generated predominantly from exporting to the grid, or supplying energy to local public and commercial buildings.

Local authority sources investment to develop municipal electricity generation assets, such as a wind or solar farm (or both).

Figure 1. Local authority-led generation for community wealth building example

Heat and energy efficiency

Alongside generation, the same organisations have been installing heat pumps, often in housing stock but more often to serve larger commercial and public sector buildings. Local authorities have been leading on place-based energy efficiency schemes, with LHEES underway and due to be delivered in late 2023.

As with community energy, these carry benefits for decarbonisation and efficiencies, taking a more tailored, place-based approach to reducing housing stock emissions, while supporting lower income and excluded groups to transition to low carbon technologies (Regen 2022).

Several local authorities, such as Midlothian Council (2022) and Stirling (FES, 2023), are also delivering larger heat network projects to serve a mix of domestic, industrial and commercial properties. This can create wider business and economy opportunities for investors and developers, generating new work and business for local places.

Transport

Beyond coordinating public transport and decarbonising their own transport fleets, local energy transport initiatives today typically take the form of e-bike services led by local authorities, charging in social and housing association properties, or public electric vehicle charging and car clubs. The Plugged-in Communities Scotland Fund (Energy Savings Trust, 2023), for instance, provides funding for community transport organisations – often housing associations – to deliver car clubs and charging for their tenants and the wider community. In terms of value for just transition outcomes, this can support decarbonisation and efficiencies through encouraging more active and public travel, although can be restrictive for those outside of city centres or without driving licenses.

Local energy systems

Often known as ‘integrated’ or ‘smart’ local energy systems, local energy systems have become increasingly prominent in the local energy landscape.

Spearheaded largely by the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme (2023), local energy systems bring together a combination of generation, storage, heat, transport and demand at a local level. This is done using physical infrastructure, digital platforms and local energy markets.

These have generally taken trial form at a town or city level and are usually led by local authorities, in conjunction with a wide consortium including communities, academia, businesses and developers. This is illustrated in an image below which shows how solar, wind and heat pump energy sources can be integrated into community energy supplies.

This has been the case in the landmark Bristol City Leap project, for instance, delivered in partnership with Bristol City Council, industrial partners Amaresco, community organisations, and developers Vattenfall (Bristol City Leap, 2022). The project will install and operate new solar, wind, heat pumps and networks, EV charging and energy efficiency measures in homes and businesses across the city to help meet their 2030 climate targets.

’Integrated’ or ’smart’ local energy systems, largely at innovation stage, now moving more into business-as-usual. Bringing together a combination of electricity, heat, transport, storage and demand at a local level, using smart technologies and digital platforms.

Just transition outcome contribution: jobs, skills and education; business and economy; decarbonisation and efficiencies.

Key developments

Still in their early stages, integrated local energy systems provide a range of opportunities against each of Scotland’s NJTOs, particularly on jobs, skills and education and business and economy. They also provide opportunities for installers, energy businesses and developers, data scientists, engineers and project managers (UKRI and Regen 2022; Chitchyan and Bird 2022).

Within integrated local energy systems, there is also scope to build community benefit and ownership of generation or district heat assets. As part of the current Bristol City LEAP project, a £1.5 million Community Energy Fund has been included as part of the deal to help communities develop their own local energy solutions and hold a stake in the wider initiative (in addition to the LEAP project creating an estimated 1,000 jobs across planning, design, data, installation and retrofit, and deliver £2.8 million to local community projects).

However, these systems can be big undertakings, requiring significant public and private finance to deliver. Given their novelty, they can be seen as risky, and some policy and regulatory issues still remain at UK level (see Section 1.128).

Local energy planning

Local energy planning is becoming a key function of local authorities in Scotland and across the UK. In Scotland, this has at least partly been driven by Scottish Government requiring Councils to develop their Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), setting out the long-term plan for decarbonising heat in buildings and improving their energy efficiency across an entire local authority area (Scottish Government, 2022a).

Some local authorities, such as Dundee City Council with their Regional Energy System Optimisation Planning (RESOP) project (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, 2022), have voluntarily broadened out into local area energy planning (LAEP) to include generation, transport and storage as well as heat and efficiency. Stirling and Clackmannanshire have also delivered a Regional Energy Masterplan which covers a similar scope (Engage Stirling, 2023).

Distribution network operators play a key part in this, supporting local stakeholders to develop plans for network investment and system design, with an increased focus on local planning and delivery under their new funding obligations. Ofgem’s Review of Local Energy Institutions and Governance, and Regional System Planning consultations are now exploring what is likely to be a prominent future role for local and community energy in the energy system (Ofgem 2023).

This new prominence of local energy planning can support the development of local energy projects and systems, in close tandem with communities and citizens. It can also allow local authorities to better plan their decarbonisation efforts, and begin to mobilise necessary local skills and finance.

Outside of LHEES, there is no set standard for the level of energy planning local authorities or stakeholders are currently expected to deliver – in Scotland or across the UK. The level of skills and resource that local authorities have in-house can also vary substantially, making it difficult to deliver more ambitious projects consistently across the country.

Recommendations

It is clear that different forms of local and community energy can make a significant contribution to Scotland’s eight National Just Transition Outcomes. New developments, particularly in community heat and efficiency, local energy systems and local energy planning, also present new opportunities.

However, key barriers remain to realising these at scale. Local or community-owned energy is also not automatically more ‘just’ than larger-scale developments. Who owns, governs, participates in, funds and benefits from local and community energy projects will impact how ‘just’ they ultimately are. Leveraging local and community energy for just transition outcomes thus means:

• Better enabling the delivery of more projects in more places
• Making sure projects embed just transition principles throughout

To support this, we have developed the following six key overarching recommendations for Scottish policymakers and delivery bodies, energy industries, communities and wider stakeholders, which can help unlock local and community energy going forward:

• Increase community capacity and outreach: Increase resource for and awareness of local and community energy, to support capacity-building and effective project engagement – particularly in underserved communities.
• Support delivery and innovation: Support the development of new local and community energy models, including the skills and networks required for community and local authorities to fully embrace them.
• Enhance ownership and governance: Expand community and local ownership of energy, ensuring that ownership and governance of projects are accessible, accountable and transparent, with proactive inclusion of marginalised or excluded groups.
• Increase participation and engagement: Ensure that all groups and communities can realistically engage with local and community energy projects, to participate in governance and decision making, and shape ideas from the beginning.
• Develop finance, funding and investment: Develop sustainable finance and business models that ensure those who can’t afford to pay are not excluded from participation or benefit and that maximum value is retained locally, with just transition outcomes explicitly prioritised.
• Open up benefits to beneficiaries: Open the benefits of local and community energy projects to as wide a range of people and places as possible, including everything from household decarbonisation and bill savings, to skills and supply chains.

These recommendations are applicable across community energy, local energy, and local energy systems. The following sections give specific actions to realise these, and explain how these suggested actions are supported by research.

Increase community capacity and outreach

Recommendation 1: Increase resource for and awareness of local and community energy, to support capacity-building and effective project engagement – particularly in underserved communities.

Community energy projects often aim to target lower income areas, to challenge fuel poverty and deliver benefits to often disadvantaged places (Stewart 2021; Community Energy Scotland 2022; Community Energy England 2022; Cairns et al 2023). However, projects in lower income areas can still be few and far between. Community energy literature highlights that in Scotland, the UK and more broadly, areas of higher deprivation and places without strong existing development associations or community energy groups can struggle to develop and participate in community energy projects (Hanke et al 2021; Brummer 2018).

Although Scotland has fostered a favourable policy environment for community energy, community energy organisations and third sector stakeholders recognise this issue, and note that there remains a lack of consistent capacity and resource within communities to deliver or participate in projects at a wider scale.

This makes it challenging for more communities to participate in community energy, local energy developments, or to pursue shared ownership arrangements. Expanding resource for capacity building and raising awareness for local and community energy would help develop National Just Transition Outcomes in these areas.

Action: Run a large-scale awareness-raising campaign around community energy, the potential benefits it brings, and entry points for communities

Our research with community energy stakeholders, third sector organisations working directly with the public, and citizens in our People’s Panel has shown that awareness of community energy among the general public remains low. Of the 22 participants in our People’s Panel, only one had heard of community energy prior to this engagement. Community energy groups and wider community organisations also reported encountering a lack of awareness when they engage in new areas.

To deliver more community energy projects for just transition outcomes, there is a need to improve awareness of the sector, and its possibilities, across the board.

Action: Support the hiring of local and community energy development officers at a more consistent local level

Research from Slee (2020) highlights that the success of community energy projects largely depends on there being skilled and knowledgeable actors with local as well as business and technical knowledge in a particular community. At present, Local Energy Scotland have eight regional development officers. However, this is not seen by local, community or energy innovation stakeholders as granular enough to build meaningful local capacity in diverse communities across the country.

Local and community energy stakeholders (again highlighted by Slee, 2020) likewise cited that it is often the same organisations, groups and development trusts which apply for funding because they know the process and have some capacity and expertise already, with limited applications from new groups or areas.

To better unlock new projects in new areas for just transition outcomes, skilled development officers employed at a more granular spatial scale, such as local authority for instance, could allow for more targeted local development and encourage better links between local authorities and communities.

Action: Expand CARES funding to provide a wider range of support, such as capacity building and more substantial core staff resource for community energy organisations

The CARES programme, managed by Local Energy Scotland, successfully supports community energy projects in Scotland with loans, grants, and procedural assistance. To date, it has been one of the first ports-of-call for community energy. However, local and community energy stakeholders called for two key improvements to be made to the CARES programme.

Firstly, local and community energy stakeholders argue that CARES may benefit from being more flexible in its funding criteria across calls and programmes. Organisations involved in our research noted there is not enough funding available to build capacity or pay community energy volunteers for their time without there first being a project in place, which makes it difficult to develop sustainable projects, particularly in new areas, or retain people to drive projects forward. Enabling more funding for capacity building and core community energy staff in particular would allow existing projects to expand, explore new models and options and help more projects to come to fruition in new and different places.

Action: Develop a roadmap of the support that CARES provides throughout the project process to make it clearer to local and community organisations

Second, our research participants commented that the support that CARES can offer to community organisations, particularly once a project has been established, is not always clear. Signposting to the website is useful but once there, community organisations note that specifics on the support available at different project stages is lacking in detail. An accessible, easy-to-navigate roadmap outlining precisely the support available at each stage of different types of project (wind, solar, hydro, generation, heat, transport, etc.) would help demystify this for prospective new community energy organisations.

Support delivery and innovation

Recommendation 2: Support the development of new local and community energy models, including the skills and networks required for community and local authorities to fully embrace them.

Innovation has been a cornerstone for both local and community energy. Community energy has often innovated by necessity, while local energy systems such as those trialled under the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme have pushed innovation at the nexus of technology, business models and regulation in recent years. These innovations present new opportunities to deliver against just transition outcomes which the Scottish Government can more effectively support.

Action: Build on Heat in Buildings and Net Zero Skills Strategies to include training around local energy systems for local authorities and interested industry stakeholders

A wealth of evidence already exists on the opportunity, barriers and operationalisation of local energy systems across the UK (Regen 2023; Energy Systems Catapult 2022).

A key challenge that remains relates to the lack of skills within local authorities to spearhead local energy system developments (Chitchyan and Bird, 2022). While LHEES has improved local energy understanding, local authority stakeholders note that there is still often a lack of skills (and resource) for local energy projects in general. These skills gaps include creating appropriate partnerships, engaging the community, knowledge-sharing and developing successful business models and governance structures within current regulatory frameworks.

Developing flexible, modular training with bodies such as Skills Development Scotland or the Improvement Service, or learning from knowledge-sharing initiatives such as the GreenSCIES local energy Centre for Excellence (UKRI and Regen 2022) could help to overcome this issue, and help contribute to the capacity within local authorities to take local energy projects forward.

Action: Work with prospective public and commercial sector stakeholders to promote community energy as an option for their energy supply

In the absence of a steady revenue stream for community energy generation projects, some are increasingly exploring Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with public and commercial organisations.

These PPAs can help to provide revenues through which community energy can deliver across all NJTOs to some degree (depending on local need and ambition). Bringing several PPAs together (i.e. selling community generated electricity across several sites to feed a single community benefit fund) can also make projects more attractive to local businesses and investors.

However, community organisations within our research noted they often struggle to find suitable organisations or to explain to key individuals within the organisation why this would benefit them and their local community.

The Scottish Government could support this process by convening public and commercial sector energy users to raise wider awareness of local or community energy power purchase arrangements, and highlight the option of partnership with community energy in public and commercial sector procurement guidance.

Action: Develop new funding models for local and community approaches to energy efficiency, retrofit and advice

Energy efficiency and retrofit services have been a rapid growth area for community energy. However, stakeholders note that community-led efficiency and retrofit relies heavily on short-term competitive grant funding, with business models still in early stages. This makes it challenging to develop effective, sustainable community-led solutions.

To enable this value, community organisations working in this space note there is a need to support them to develop new business and delivery models, potentially in partnership with local authorities. Building on existing funding routes such as CARES, the future National Public Energy Agency could work with community and local partners to support the coordination of investment and development of new community efficiency and retrofit funding arrangements.

Action: Work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and local authorities directly to identify and address key friction points within the local energy planning, approval and delivery processes

In our People’s Panel, participants noted that communities and local authorities should face a minimum of red tape in getting projects up-and-running, allowing them to innovate, demonstrate and deliver value sooner. Local authority stakeholders also noted that this is a key issue.

Because projects must navigate a range of local authority departments and sign-off processes (not including wider processes such as securing grid connections and meeting regulatory requirements), they can be held-up or fail due to political timeframes and pressures such as local or Scottish Government elections. There is thus a need to ensure that projects can progress more efficiently within and alongside these democratic processes. Local authority stakeholders and examples from other local energy projects such as GreenSCIES in London suggest that streamlined project processes within local authorities (potentially with a single embedded local energy officer) would help to ensure projects can progress overall, both within election cycles and in the longer-term.

Enhance ownership and governance

Recommendation 3: Expand community and local ownership of energy, ensuring that ownership and governance of projects are accessible, accountable and transparent, with proactive inclusion of marginalised or excluded groups.

Who owns local and community energy projects can have a direct impact on how much they contribute to just transition outcomes. Research from Aquatera (2021) compared 9 community owned winds farms against 4 commercial wind farms and found that the community-owned wind turbines in Scotland have generated, on average, 34x more in community benefit payments than the developer-led projects.

Where projects are locally or community owned – particularly by communities and local authorities – evidence suggests that the main outcomes tend to be aligned with just transition principles (Stewart 2021; Creamer et al 2019; Hanke et al 2021). This can also enable more value to be captured locally overall than, say, projects led by developers alone. As such, enabling more local and community ownership of energy can help to deliver greater value against just transition outcomes.

Community and local ownership is not fairer by default, however, with a need to ensure that ownership and governance structures are fair, accessible, and transparent (see Section 1.14).

Action: Develop clear targets for community energy

Although cited as a priority for Scottish Government in the Local Energy Policy Statement, community-owned projects account for only 11.1% – 101 megawatts – of total operational local and community energy capacity as of December 2023 (Scottish Government Energy Statistics Hub, 2023). Scottish Government does have a target of 2 gigawatts operational local and community energy by 2030. However, this target also includes non-community owned projects such as public sector and local authority projects, and projects led by farms and estates.

Research shows that clarity in government targets can provide a signal to stakeholders to help stimulate innovation and action among businesses, developers, and communities towards net zero – including in community energy when paired with wider measures and support (Hewitt et al 2019; Yeow et al 2017). Community energy and just transition stakeholders similarly note that making clear how much of the 2030 target is expected to be community-owned would set a clearer vision for communities overall.

As a means to stimulating more community ownership and innovation and redoubling this ambition within the final ESJTP, the Scottish Government could outline how much of the remaining 2 gigawatt target is to be met by new community-owned projects specifically.

Action: Enable greater community ownership through local energy planning

Identified by both local authority and wider local energy stakeholders, local energy planning presents a new opportunity to support community ownership and more democratic input on local energy ambitions overall. Within local energy planning processes, such as LHEES, LAEP or heat network zoning, local authorities can identify sites that would be appropriate for community energy projects, particularly generation and heat, and work with community organisations to develop them.

In theory, this is a win-win situation: community energy organisations have a wider scope of potential projects, while local authorities can be supported by community organisations to deliver against their energy ambitions.

Action: Develop the potential for local authority shared ownership

While the Scottish Government has set out its principles for community shared ownership of renewable energy developments (2019), there is no similar guidance at present for local authorities. With the development of the Regional System Planner at UK-level and other trends towards greater local authority participation in energy decision making and projects (Ofgem, 2023; PwC, 2022; Green Finance Institute, 2022), local energy and finance stakeholders highlight that this could be a useful vehicle for establishing more local ownership of energy assets.

Where communities are deemed less-well equipped to participate in shared ownership, providing guidance for local authorities to invest in shared ownership projects could create a new avenue to capture value from larger developments, potentially creating new local authority revenue streams or community benefit funds. This is already included in shared ownership guidance in Wales, for instance (Welsh Government, 2022). Building on Scottish Government’s existing Community Shared Ownership Best Practice Principles (Scottish Government, 2019), working with COSLA to understand the potential role and opportunity for local authorities in shared ownership arrangements could be a useful undertaking.

Participation and engagement

Recommendation 4: Ensure that all groups and communities can realistically engage with local and community energy projects, to participate in governance and decision making, and shape ideas from the beginning.

Often those groups typically already excluded or disadvantaged in society also face risk of exclusion within local and community projects (Knox et al 2022). Without ensuring that those most at-risk of exclusion can engage and participate directly, there is a risk that projects do not reflect the needs of those groups and people, and that those people are in turn excluded from wider benefit. Table 6 illustrates key barriers for specific excluded groups as identified in our academic literature review.

Expanding capacity and outreach as outlined in Recommendation 1 can go some way to overcoming this issue. However, it is important to consider the specific needs of these groups to ensure they can participate in, and benefit from local and community energy projects. This includes paying attention to project design, engagement, decision making, governance and benefit allocation (Knox et al 2022; Huggins 2022).

Table 6: Groups with additional barriers to engagement and participation

Action: Ensure best practice principles for co-design and engagement

Ensuring as many people as possible can help to shape, participate in and benefit from local and community energy requires proactive, targeted and meaningful engagement with all groups within a community or area – particularly those most disadvantaged or at risk of exclusion already.

To do so, our People’s Panel echoed that there is a need for a shared standard of best practice in community engagement across local and community energy projects, starting at the earliest possible stage with broad promotion, to allow citizens and communities to meaningfully co-design projects from the very beginning. As highlighted above, using trusted intermediaries can be one effective way of reaching groups most at-risk of exclusion, although other methods such as targeted doorstep or community engagement may be more appropriate in some circumstances.

Several organisations such as the Scottish Community Development Centre and Project LEO in Oxfordshire have already created standards for community engagement and local energy respectively (Huggins 2022). For example, the Scottish Government and COSLA recently delivered their own ‘Planning With People’ initiative which outlines best practice for community engagement on local health and social policy. The Scottish Government has also been leading a trial of green participatory budgeting. This activity can provide useful groundwork for increasing local and community energy.

Our research therefore suggests that the Scottish Government should build on other examples of best practice, such as the Good Practice Principles for Community Benefit in Onshore Wind Developments (2019) and encourage local authorities, community energy groups, developers and relevant stakeholders to adopt a shared best practice standard for citizen and community engagement in all new local and community energy projects.

Action: Make governance of projects more transparent, inclusive and accountable

Once projects are established, how they are then governed (who makes decisions, what the processes for decision making look like) has key justice implications. Issues have been noted in the energy justice literature (see Hanke et al 2021), for instance, with community benefit funds that are determined by developers and spent largely by those more active and engaged members of a community, excluding those more socially isolated, meaning outcomes could fail to reflect their needs.

Likewise, experience from previous innovation projects shows that local projects can be decided by leading partners and organisations, with limited local or community direction. Ensuring proactive engagement with communities and inclusive, accountable governance structures that do not rely on people paying money to participate can help increase public support and promote fairer outcomes and processes.

Action: Formalise the role of third sector and advocacy organisations as trusted intermediaries

Trusted intermediary organisations such as fuel poverty charities, community groups, mutual aid initiatives, faith groups and third sector more generally are crucial to supporting people into local and community energy projects, and net zero more widely (Slee, 2020; Stewart, 2021). Such organisations can support engagement and outreach with often-excluded communities, and help to advocate for their needs within policy, project and development processes.

However, third sector and fuel poverty stakeholders note consistently that these organisations are under resourced – an issue made especially acute during the recent energy crisis (Citizens Advice, 2023). This means that although many organisations are open to supporting energy and just transition projects, they are severely limited in their capacity to do so. Funding for these organisations tends to be competitive on an annual basis, meaning that staff spend a lot of time applying for the next round of support. This also means that longer-term capacity building, upskilling, and working with people and places is difficult.

Third sector stakeholders working in equalities and fuel poverty in particular, along with just transition researchers, highlight that more stable, longer-term resourcing for trusted intermediary organisations such as their own (including established community energy groups) would help to enable better capacity building and representation of excluded communities, along with clarifying the role Scottish Government expects these organisations to play across the ESJTP. The Climate Policy Engagement Network could provide one forum for engagement with these partners.

Develop finance, funding and investment

Recommendation 5: Develop sustainable finance and business models that ensure those who can’t afford to pay are not excluded from participation or benefit, and that maximum value is retained locally with just transition outcomes explicitly prioritised.

Local and community energy projects rely on a range of finance and funding sources (Cairns et al. 2023). Where this funding comes from, who pays, and what happens to the revenues are all important just transition questions.

All funding types can support NJTOs and a wider just transition in theory, but not necessarily by default (as discussed in section 3).

Table 7 outlines the key issues with different funding models. As such, supporting a just transition means ensuring that finance, funding and investment are fundamentally aligned with just transition outcomes first and foremost.

Table 7. Overview of finance and funding sources for local and community energy

From this analysis, there are four key issues for just transition outcomes:

• Share offers are often exclusionary of lower income groups within community or shared ownership. However, individual projects can stipulate exemptions to ensure people can still participate, with a need to encourage this on a consistent basis.
• Grant and innovation funding is often short-term and overly innovation-focussed, with a lack of support for scaling-up or more social and business model innovation. It can also prioritise innovation first with just transition value treated as secondary, while projects often wind down with no lasting legacy for communities.
• Public funds are available and welcome, such as in the recent Heat Networks Fund, although there is a strong sense that these are not adequate at present for local authorities to fully deliver LHEES, for instance, or for community energy projects to be established at scale.
• Private finance is playing an increasing role in local authority and larger-scale integrated projects, such as Bristol City LEAP. However, stakeholders interviewed across different sectors are cautious about previous experiences with the Public Finance Initiative and the risk that private investment may lead to value leaving local areas.

Action: Explore new private sector funding models for local and community energy

With more public-private finance models, there are various opportunities for businesses and organisations to invest in local and community energy projects, which in turn can support other just transition outcomes (such as decarbonisation & efficiencies, and citizens, communities & place). Many already do invest in community energy share offers, via community or municipal bonds, or through partners such as Triodos Bank and Abundance Investment.

However, stakeholders in the finance and investment space note that without the Feed-In Tariff, the return for local or community projects is generally less attractive unless projects get to a larger scale (e.g. a high number of aggregated PPA agreements or more ambitious integrated local energy systems).

Closer working between the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) on community and local energy is one viable option to help to overcome this issue. While the SNIB typically invests in £1 million+ projects, it could begin to work closely with local and community sectors to develop new models and instruments and help build better financial networks. It could also help aggregate projects to create a larger, packaged proposition which is more lucrative to investors. 3Ci’s (2022) regional net zero investment forum, which brings together the finance community, local authorities, policymakers, developers, businesses and community enterprises in different regions across the UK, has already made some progress on this.

Action: Incentivise just transition outcomes in policy, procurement, and funding decisions around local energy projects or systems – especially where commercial, innovation or private finance are involved

There is also general understanding across stakeholders that private investment has a strong role to play in reaching net zero and delivering more ambitious local projects (Green Finance Institute 2022; UKRI and Regen, 2022a). Our People’s Panel participants likewise told us that it does not strictly matter where money comes from, so long as the primary beneficiaries are people and places first, with strong consideration of just transition outcomes and an offer of shared ownership as standard.

To ensure this, where innovation or private finance is involved in local and community energy projects, there is a need for just transition guidance in funding and procurement processes. This should also be considered together with Community Wealth Building and relevant National Planning Framework legislation.

Action: Ensure adequate strategic funding for local energy delivery (and beyond)

Beyond project funding models, local authorities note that short-term annual budget cycles make it difficult to develop longer-term projects or strategies. Local authority and wider UK local energy stakeholders note that this current model of funding has led to a disparity across local authorities in energy efficiency schemes in particular, with many drastically underspending on their allocated budgets.

This makes it difficult to mobilise local jobs and skills to meet decarbonisation and efficiency plans (and fuel poverty targets), limiting the appetite for businesses to emerge, upskill, or retrain to deliver on these ambitions – and for investors. Skills and jobs for the delivery of energy projects are a well-cited and evidenced barrier to progress here more generally (Chitchyan and Bird, 2022; UKRI and Regen, 2022b). This was also highlighted in the Scottish Parliament’s ’Role of local government and its cross sectoral partners in and delivering a net-zero Scotland’ report (Scottish Parliament, 2023).

Our research shows the importance of reviewing funding required for the on-the-ground delivery of local energy plans and projects such as LHEES, and reforming existing budgets and processes to allow for more strategic, longer-term planning and investment. Much of this work is already underway in the delivery of the Heat in Buildings Strategy. As such, there is a need for the Scottish Government to accelerate efforts with local authorities to develop more appropriate funding models, and deliver long-term budgetary plans as a signal to investors, and to industry, to mobilise skills and supply chains.

Open up benefits and beneficiaries

Recommendation 6: Open the benefits of local and community energy projects to as wide a range of people and places as possible, including everything from household decarbonisation and bill savings to skills and supply chains.

As evidenced throughout this report, local and community energy can carry substantial benefit against Scotland’s NJTOs and for local people and places more broadly.

However, not everyone can currently experience those benefits directly, due to financial, physical or other reasons. For instance, people on low incomes will struggle to buy in to community share offers and so will not receive any financial return from projects, nor have a say in project governance.

Similarly, people in the private rented sector or multi-occupancy buildings will struggle to benefit from initiatives which include new technologies or energy efficiency measures due to legal and physical challenges.

In addition, some of the benefits identified in previous sections of this report have yet to be fully enabled. This includes the realisation of new jobs and skills, which is a common issue in net zero energy delivery more broadly (Chitchyan and Bird, 2022; UKRI and Regen 2022b).

Beyond the recommendations already provided, there is thus a need to consider how to enable benefits of all kinds that reach a wider number of people, and that carry impact against Scotland’s net zero, energy and just transition ambitions at scale.

Action: Conduct policy engagement with identified groups (e.g. low incomes, those in the private rented sector and multi-occupancy buildings) to establish new ways for them to participate in and benefit from local and community energy projects

Where local or community energy projects include installing measures in people’s homes which deliver financial, health or environmental value – such as solar and storage, heat pumps, heat networks, efficiency or as part of wider local energy systems – certain groups face key barriers to benefitting directly.

Research such as that by Knox et al (2022) outline how people living in the private rented sector in particular will struggle to participate and experience benefit due to legal questions over ownership and responsibility. This is also true of those living in flats with different housing tenures.

People living on lower incomes will likewise struggle to invest in community share offers, meaning they have limited opportunity to gain individual returns or participate in the governance of projects that require up-front investment as a result.

As such, there is a need to work directly with these groups, tenant associations such as Living Rent, landlords and local authorities to develop frameworks that allow people living in those situations to also participate and benefit. As outlined by our People’s Panel, this should also encourage projects to deliver wide benefits to the local community, not based solely on ability to pay or invest.

Action: Work with education and training providers, industry, and local energy stakeholders to set out the skills and business opportunities for local and community energy

Local jobs and skills are often slated as a key opportunity from local and community energy, including within the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Policy Statement (2021). However, these opportunities are still to materialise at scale in Scotland and the UK more broadly, with a stubborn reliance on volunteers in the community sector in particular (Institute for Public Policy Research, 2023; UKRI and Regen, 2022; Community Energy Scotland 2022; Climate Change Committee 2023).

Reviewing the Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plans and Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) could provide an opportunity to outline requirements for local energy skills specifically. This could include working with energy and training organisations such as Skills Development Scotland and local and community energy partners including industry and local authorities, to provide a clear analysis of opportunities within the local and community energy sectors.

This could also include specific assessment of the jobs and skills needed to deliver on the 2 gigawatt target (and to enable local and community energy at scale more broadly), and an articulation of pathways for people and businesses to access new opportunities.

Policy dependencies and responsibilities

Policy dependencies

Outside of the immediate local and community energy policy space, there are some key policy interdependencies that should be considered when aiming to better enable local and community energy approaches. Working across these areas will be crucial to ensuring effective delivery of local and community energy going forward.

Based on the research covered in this report and Regen’s own critical analysis, Table 8 sets out potential additional actions for a (non-exhaustive) list of key dependencies that could help move local and community energy forwards for just transition outcomes.

Table 8: Policy dependencies and suggested actions

Reserved policy areas

As aspects of energy policy and regulation in the UK are reserved, there are limitations to the work that Scottish Government can do to fully enable local and community energy. Many of the policies required to support local and community energy – particularly in energy market regulations which govern electricity supply, Feed-in Tariffs or Contracts for Difference, and recognising the value that local energy systems can offer to the energy system more widely within regulatory incentives – are not within the Scottish Government’s remit.

However, there are a number of key reform packages and opportunities currently open to the Scottish Government to seek to influence the UK Government to promote Scotland’s local and community energy and just transition ambitions. These include but are not limited to:

• Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (DESNZ, REMA)
• Contracts for Difference (DESNZ, separately and under REMA)
• Review of Local Governance and Institutions and the development of the regional energy strategic planner (Ofgem)
• Grid connections reform (Ofgem, National Grid ESO)

Table 9 gives a high-level overview of key reserved issues. This sets out some of the primary issues, how primed each currently is for delivery, and some suggestions for what is required to meet Scotland’s local and community energy and just transition ambitions at once.

Table 9: Reserved issues

Conclusions

This report has analysed the potential role of local and community energy in delivering against Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes. This analysis and the subsequent recommendations have been informed by extensive review of literature and research, stakeholder engagement and discussion with citizens directly via our People’s Panel.

From this analysis, it is clear that local and community energy can be a critical part of Scotland’s just transition ambitions, contributing across all of Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes. This contribution could be supported through locally-tailored solutions and maximising inclusive ownership, participation, governance and benefit captured from Scotland’s immense energy landscape.

Enabling this requires supporting the growth of the local and community sectors overall, and building just transition principles into those projects and processes. The ambitions and recommendations throughout this report set out how to achieve this in practise, with key actions for Scottish policymakers and delivery partners.

Our research has also found key barriers to delivering against these outcomes across sectors: limited resources to build capacity for local and community energy projects in underserved areas; challenges around skills and project delivery processes particularly within local authorities; justice and equity issues within projects themselves; and lack of appropriate finance and business models.

Beyond the research and recommendations presented here, we identified other areas that would benefit from further, specific exploration within the local and community energy and wider energy sectors. These are:

• community ownership of land and housing, the role of local authorities in supporting these and how energy can be brought together within that; and,
• repowering and end-of-life onshore wind projects, and how local authorities and communities can start to take ownership of these; as many wind farms come to the end of their first contracts, there is a need to work with local energy stakeholders and developers to fully understand the potential for community ownership.

While relevant, more detailed analysis of these two issues would help shine a light on potential further opportunities for the local and community energy sectors, and on the delivery of even further value against Scotland’s National Just Transition Outcomes.

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Appendices

Appendix A: Methodology

We used three key methods in the delivery of this project. These were:

• Systematic review of academic and policy literature
• Interviews with key stakeholders
• Deliberative “People’s Panel” with Scottish citizens (Appendix B)

These methods were selected to give us as rounded a view of the opportunities and barriers for local and community energy as possible. More details on review and interviews are given below, with a more extensive overview of the People’s Panel in Appendix B.

Systematic review of academic and policy literature

Leveraging previous academic expertise of the project team, we conducted a review of relevant literature in the field of local and community energy with reference to a just transition. In total, we reviewed nearly 100 documents, including peer-reviewed journal articles, consultant reports, case studies, and policy documents from the Scottish and UK Governments.

Articles were sourced using search terms in Google Scholar. We first searched “local energy”, “community energy”, and “just transition”. We then expanded our search to include local/community energy and the different just transition outcomes.

Policy documents were sourced from the Scottish and UK Government websites, online search engine searches, and early informal interviews with key local and community energy policy experts. Within Regen we have vast experience of the local and community energy space, including developing the Community Energy England, Scotland and Wales state of the sector reports for 2021; delivering ongoing engagement and convening with community energy organisations and the wider energy sector via our network-funded communities programme (Regen 2023); and advocating for community energy within policy and regulatory consultations such as delivering benefits from offshore wind (and supporting community organisations to do the same). Finally, we sourced cases by reviewing innovation projects such as Prospering from the Energy Revolution, and through asking stakeholders for recent developments.

Once documents were sourced, they were reviewed for evidence and analysis around the eight NJTOs specifically, as well as lessons for delivering more just processes and outcomes. These were collated within a single spreadsheet, with this spreadsheet then discussed by the project team to establish key themes and content.

Interviews with key stakeholders

Once this review was complete, we interviewed 22 key expert stakeholders working across local and community energy, community energy organisations, local authorities, innovation, renewable energy businesses, equalities and social justice, just transitions, and third sector. This diverse base of people was chosen to help give a rounded view not just of local and community energy, but to glean insights from relevant sectors to help shape a future look at local and community energy to ensure it works for NJTOs. These were identified through existing Regen, Scottish Government and industry networks.

It is worth noting that there was higher representation from both citizens and local and community energy practitioners than e.g. renewable energy developers and businesses in this process. This was deliberate – citizens and local and community organisations, particularly those working on just transition issues, have been less often engaged in such discussions yet can provide crucial insights on how to best open up local and community energy for a wider range of just transition outcomes. However, recommendations in turn reflect more the perspective of those stakeholders. Further engagement with energy developers and businesses would help make recommendations more robust.

These interviews took place online during the months of February-April 2023. Each lasted between 45 minutes and 1 hour. Feedback was anonymised during the analysis process. We asked specifically where people had seen local and community energy working for just transition outcomes already, the key issues that local and community energy might face in working for just transition outcomes or processes, where they felt local and community energy could add more JT value with the right support, and how we could best enable this (relevant to people’s area of expertise). Questions were developed from a combination of evidence from the literature review, and to target the key research aims of the work agreed at project inception.

To supplement, we also held an informal online workshop of local and community energy stakeholders in the UK, to discuss these themes in an open forum with experts from a more technical and specialist perspective. In this workshop, stakeholders included some of those interviewed, but were mostly made up of local and community energy stakeholders from outside Scotland, allowing us to glean a more rounded view of the sector and recent developments elsewhere in the UK. This workshop did not influence recommendations directly, but rather helped us track any new and emerging trends in this space identify key just transition questions (particularly around local project processes, innovation, system operation and governance) for further investigation in the Scottish context.

Appendix B: People’s Panel

To fully understand how local and community energy can support all communities and regions across Scotland, Regen commissioned Shared Future to co-design and run a People’s Panel.

A People’s Panel is a deliberative process, bringing together citizens from a sample of the population to learn about a topic and ‘co-design’ policy recommendations. People’s Panels, and other types of deliberative processes, are particularly powerful tools for addressing policy issues that impact and involve people. They allow for ideas – such as different models of community and local energy – to be tested amongst the target population, they help explore barriers around engagement and participation, and they add democratic legitimacy to policy development. The goal of our People’s Panel was to answer the question:

“The way we use energy in our homes and communities is changing, with many communities and councils developing their own solutions.

How should this be done so that it involves and benefits people in a fair way?”

To address this question, Shared Future recruited 22 people from across Scotland to participate in four online sessions over the course of three weeks. In these sessions, participants hear from ‘expert witnesses’ who present on the relevant topic of the day in clear terms, with participants discussing what they’ve heard and questioning witnesses for more information.

Expert witnesses were chosen by the wider project team (including our academic steering group) as people who either (a) were considered experts or leading practitioners in their field, and/or (b) led an interesting real-world case study. This did not include a “traditional” commercial renewable energy developer. Experts were briefed extensively by the Shared Future team as an impartial partner, to eliminate biases and ensure that presentations were as clear and understandable as possible. The aim was not to promote local and community energy, but to present participants with different models, examples and ideas to understand their perspectives. We had two expert witnesses per each session, covering:

• How the energy system works and how it is changing to become more local and renewable (energy systems expert Calum Watkins – Smarter Grid Solutions, and local energy expert Rebecca Windermere – Regen)
• Community energy (Glasgow Community Energy; Local Energy Scotland who replaced Community Energy Scotland due to scheduling clashes)
• Local energy (North Ayrshire Council; the Blairgowrie Heat Project; smart local energy expert Jess Britton – UKERC) and
• Larger developments and shared ownership (Ripple Energy, Local Energy Scotland)

From these sessions with witnesses and wider discussions, participants then deliberated and worked together to identify 20 key principles for developing local and community energy such that it involves and benefits people in a fair way. These are grouped into 7 key themes (below).

Of these participants, only 1 had heard of local or community energy before. A stratified random sample of the population was used to gain perspectives from people who had not worked in this space before, and from diverse social and economic backgrounds. The same 22 participants attended each session, and were paid £110 each in vouchers of their choosing for their time.

Theme 1) Definitions

This theme relates to clarity of definitions surrounding the energy project itself, the roles and responsibilities of those involved, and the budget.

It includes three principles:

• How the project will work is clear; how long it will last, what are the personal and community benefits of being involved etc. This is made easy to understand.
• It has been agreed and is clear what roles and responsibilities there are and how much time commitment is needed by people who want to take part. This will enable people to play to their strengths and feel ownership.
• Transparency of the budget is clear to all.

Theme 2) Goals and outcomes

This theme brings focus to how aims, success metrics, shared values, priorities, and benefits are established within local and community energy developments.

It includes four principles:

• The aims of the project and what success looks like is clear to all and has been agreed by consensus.
• Shared values are agreed by all involved.
• Priorities are set but, not everything at once, start small and scale it up as more people get interested.
• Fairness: everyone has to benefit, with benefits being evenly distributed.

Theme 3) Participation

This theme takes a very broad view of issues related to participation, including raising awareness of local and community energy generally, engagement and promotion within the community itself, participation opportunities across the whole community, and routes for democratic governance structures.

This theme includes six principles:

• There must be large-scale awareness-raising of the concept of community/local energy so that everyone understands its benefits and what your individual / community entry point might be.
• Developers should be mandated to engage with communities at the earliest possible stage (before planning) to ensure that benefits are relevant to the community and to ensure that there is forward planning so that the community is happy with how the land, and any infrastructure, will be developed or left at the end of the project.
• The project is well promoted to everyone within the community.
• Collaboration is encouraged so that lots of people can get involved and work together sharing lots of ideas.
• Flexibility means that input can be heard from all parts of the community.
• The way that decisions are made is clear and agreed. It is democratic so people are able to express views, and misgivings, it is not controlled by one person and all who have a share (no matter how small) have a vote. At least a proportion of shares must be affordable for those on a low income. Changes are consulted on.

Theme 4) Support and risk

This theme talks to the processes of delivering local and community energy developments, ensuring that support is provided to the community to support project engagement or delivery, and that risks to the community are minimised.

It includes two principles:

• There is support in place all the way through the project so that no-one feels left alone and appropriate extra training is provided. Funding for community-sourced leadership roles should be mandated where it supports equitable and consistent involvement.
• No unnecessary risks are taken.

Theme 5) Local use of energy

This theme relates to Panel members’ perspectives that energy generated locally should also be used locally. It includes one principle:

• Wherever possible the energy generated should be used by the local community.

Theme 6) Shared ownership opportunities

This theme focuses specifically on shared ownership energy models and talks to the mechanisms through which people can get involved with shared ownership projects.

It includes two principles:

• In a shared ownership project, there must be the opportunity to invest throughout the lifetime of the project and a clearly defined timeframe for how long it will remain publicly owned.
• In shared ownership projects, developers should have profits capped at a percentage level to ensure they are not making excessive profits whilst there are any households left sitting in the cold.

Theme 7) Roles for government

This theme speaks to the structures that need to be put in place to support the fair growth of community and local energy across Scotland. While many of the other principles and themes relate to specific instances of community and local energy development, this theme is more focussed on widespread action and equality of opportunity across the country.

It includes two principles:

• There has to be conclusive and resounding support (investment and policy) from all levels of government that mean widespread community and local energy is a reality across all our communities.
• To help ensure fairness, national government needs to ensure that all councils are a) able to invest in community energy projects and be held to account if they don’t do so and b) face a minimum of red tape in achieving innovation.

Support for Principles by theme

This theme

Figure 1 depicts the degree of support held by Panel members for each principle, grouped according to the seven themes outlines above.

Across all themes and principles, the average ratio of support (strongly support and support) to opposition (oppose and strongly oppose) is 52:1. For every vote of opposition, there were 52 votes in support, with only 6 total votes opposing principles in total, showing overwhelming agreement with almost all principles developed.

Appendix C: Local and community energy just transition outcome impacts

Table: Community energy